Why it matters that you know how to participate in life cycle events.
https://www.facebook.com/mosbacherb/posts/pfbid0JkbLsNFG5b7PwnfCFY4f7Yr6cLeXPkB69VNDWSCBxW1tvBEGdhFmyuWKD71E6DY3l
Besides for the saving of a life/lives, perhaps the most critical Jewish obligation is called Meyt Mitzvah--burying a body/remains when there's nobody else to do the burial. (Eruvin 17a-b, Megilla 3b, and more)
This obligation is hard for most (not all) moderns to fully comprehend, i.e., incidentally coming across a corpse which needs immediate attention, but no family or community or obviously responsible party is known, or available. It just isn't a typical experience for most of us.
Yesterday I participated in the burial of bones from the Holocaust Concentration Camp, Dachau--hidden safely away for years--unknown to those who held them.
Just after WWII an American solider, Willard N. Maddux, found himself in possession of a few human bone fragments from Dachau. He sent them back to his family in America, likely not knowing what would be most appropriate & respectful.
Recently his son-in-law, almost 70 years later, came across them wrapped carefully in an envelope while going through his long deceased father-in-law's belongings. This man (not Jewish) began thinking about how to proceed. He ended up asking a Jewish friend, a member of Adas, for help. This Adas family then asked if we could bury the bones somewhere in their plot at our Adas cemetery.
Yesterday, Erev Hannukah, we had a "Meyt Mitzvah Funeral" for the souls who could have been those remains. Psalms, Torah, Eulogies, El Malei, shoveling earth, Kaddish, all of it. Both families present. Mr. Maddux's son-in-law, present, shared deeply emotional words of remorse on behalf of his German heritage.
In fact, the youngest one there, 14 months, participated in shoveling some earth, 3 scoops, onto the bones. Hard to describe how powerful that was to witness, and how unimaginable the entire scenario is in the first place.
I am awed by the holy souls out there who deeply care for the sanctity of our bodily vessels, divine images, to this extent.
I am consistently overwhelmed by the love & kindness we so often receive from our neighbors, even as scary times persist. Thank you. We so often don’t get the privilege of doing mitzvot despite our surroundings, but rather, because of them. We can’t take that for granted even though it isn’t always “newsworthy”.
This pre-Hannukah moment/mitzvah/miracle--just wow. Each light infinitely matters. We can't ever forget that. To then have a Hannukiah lit at the Vice President's residence by an inhabitant of that home just a few hours later...no words.
Ma'alin B'Kodesh.
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