At the Threshold: Jewish Meditations on Death

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568212992
• ISBN13: 9781568212999
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Jason Aronson
• Length: 165 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A small but deeply meaningful collection

Michael Swirsky collects here thoughts from various sources of the Jewish tradition, on the subject of 'death and dying'. The self- proclaimed aim of this book is to help 'people who are facing their own dying' which I suppose means all of us, at one time or another. The work is divided into sections, on 'Recognition' 'Protest' 'Suffering' 'Acceptance' 'Leavetaking' And it has an appendix in which an account of the death of Rabbi Nahman is given. The selections also include poetry,among others, moving pieces by Bialik, Zelda and Pinhas Sadeh. One of my favorite passages is by Abraham Yehoshua Heschel, "Awareness of God is awareness of being thought of by God, of being an object of His concern, of His expectation. Surviving after death, we hope , is surviving as a thought of God." The question that looms in relation to my own self is:Am I worthy of surviving, of being a thought of God? What is it about myself or my existence that has affinity to eternity?" There is a great deal to think about in this rich volume.