319) Some Perplexing Mourning-related Minhagim

 A GUEST POST BY RABBI BORUCH CLINTON:

LEARNING MISHNA:

Is there a connection between mourning and learning chapters of the Mishna? I’m not sure. But popular Jewish practice certainly assumes that there’s something going on. There’s no escaping advice to recite carefully chosen chapters during the course of shiva, and then to gather participants in an effort to complete larger segments before key subsequent milestones.

But why? Some will note that the words נשמה and משנה share the same letters. But then, so do השמן and מנשה (not to mention the verb “meshaneh” – to change). Others will quote “ספרים הקדושים” extolling the power such study has in positively improving one’s status in the next world. The only specific references I came across pointed to titles (אלף המגן ,יוסף אומץ ,תורה אור etc.) that could each refer to multiple lesser-known and relatively modern books. Gesher Hachaim mentions the custom but, uncharacteristically, quotes no sources.

318) AUTHORSHIP OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS – THE DISCOVERY OF A LOST TEXT FROM CHASSIDEI ASHKENAZ:

 

A commentary on the Book of Psalms by Rashbam (1085-1158) from just before the period of R. Eleazar of Worms. 

INTODUCTION:

Pursuant to previous posts about lost texts (and even lost Talmudim) which were discovered in what became known as the “European Geniza”, this article - based extensively on the research of Professor Simcha Emanuel^[1] - explores another fascinating text with interesting implications.

The European Geniza is a term that has come to refer to old texts that were glued together and ‘repurposed’ as binding material to form a hardcover for newer books. These books are scattered throughout Europe in various libraries and archives. Their often-accidental discoveries yield important information about works from towards the end of the Middle Ages[2] which were until recently either not known or thought to have been lost.

317) SHEMIRA: WHY PROTECT THE DEAD?

 

A GUEST POST BY RABBI BORUCH CLINTON:

As Rabbi Michal notes on his Kotzk Blog, many of the customs currently associated with death in Judaism were formalized only in the last few centuries. Reading that article got me thinking about some specific practises and their origins.

The first of those that came to mind was the protection (shemira) we insist in providing bodies before they reach burial. Besides the obvious fact that it’s perverse and cruel to just abandon a human body – especially that of a loved one – to its fate, is there any reason to continue watching it even once it’s safely reached, say, a hospital or funeral home morgue?