I Sit With The Dead
“I've been blessed to have the honor to be part of the Chevra Kadisha here. Chevra Kadisha is the sacred society of end of life where we sit with the metta, the body, because we don't ever want the soul to be alone until burial.
So we sit with the body and we talk to them with the utmost respect, just reverence.
We get some information about who we're with. I'll talk to them about their family and I'll tell them, you are so loved.
This man that I was sitting with happened to be a ship captain. I just was like, hey, I've learned that you really love to be on your boat on the water, but your wife didn't. And so you opted to stay on land for your wife. You are a mensch. And I got this, like, I don't even know how to make words for it.
And it felt like it was right. And I was in the right place. People are like, oh, you just did this huge mitzvah. And I'm like, no, this was a mitzvah for me. I feel like I received. It's not hard for me. It's not uncomfortable.
For me, it's profound and peaceful. I've been in a lot of really dark places in my own life. I've witnessed other people's darkness and I'm comfortable with it. Grief is a necessary friend and not a comfortable one, but a necessary one.”
