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Death In Judaism

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For this Assignment, I will be looking at how the Concept of genocide challenges ideas about death and the afterlife in Judaism. Many people have their own perception of what genocide is. Often when people think of genocide they think of the Nazi concentration camps (1933-1945), or the Rwandan Genocide (April- July 1994). However, not all forms of genocide in the past have been this blatant or obvious. A great example of this is the residential schools across Canada, and in Australia as well. These schools were hidden in plain sight and not a lot of people knew what was going on in these schools. During one part of the documentary “The Secret Path”, Gord Downie explains that he was never told about these schools when he was growing up and for …show more content…

An example of this is the holocaust, during these times rituals of departure and periods of mourning were not respected. During the holocaust, if you were a Jewish person who had died, your body would be treated the same as any other person who had also died. In Judaism, it is customary that after a person dies they are buried quickly, in a white shroud, inside a decomposable closed coffin. Also one of the most important aspects of a Jewish ritual of departure is that the body is treated with dignity (as if the person is still alive). However, during the holocaust, these rituals were not respected or followed. According to (Ezez. 2018) the bodies of those who died were either thrown into mass graves, or their bodies would be burned and turned into ashes. Many Jewish people believe that the body should be returned to God and the earth; However, when bodies were burned this went against their beliefs. Another huge issue with genocide and the holocaust is the periods of mourning. In Judaism, it is customary to have several mourning periods that can last up to a year after the death of a loved one. These periods are known as; Aninut, the funeral, Shiva, Shloshim, Aveilut. After a year a tombstone is placed at the grave and there is an unveiling ceremony. Unfortunately, this was not possible for many people because of the holocaust. Many people did not hear about the death of a loved one until months or years after the death had occurred. Unfortunately, this was not the only issue; as discussed earlier the rituals of departure were not followed either. This meant that if a body was buried, there was no way of identifying the body or knowing where it was. If the body was burned it could not be buried and sent back to where it originally came from. With these two examples, it is clear to see how acts of genocide can challenge ideas of death in the afterlife.

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