After One-Hundred-and-Twenty
Reflecting on Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition
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- USD 13.99
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- USD 13.99
Descripción editorial
A deeply personal look at death, mourning, and the afterlife in Jewish tradition
After One-Hundred-and-Twenty provides a richly nuanced and deeply personal look at Jewish attitudes and practices regarding death, mourning, and the afterlife as they have existed and evolved from biblical times to today. Taking its title from the Hebrew and Yiddish blessing to live to a ripe old age—Moses is said to have been 120 years old when he died—the book explores how the Bible's original reticence about an afterlife gave way to views about personal judgment and reward after death, the resurrection of the body, and even reincarnation. It examines Talmudic perspectives on grief, burial, and the afterlife, shows how Jewish approaches to death changed in the Middle Ages with thinkers like Maimonides and in the mystical writings of the Zohar, and delves into such things as the origins of the custom of reciting Kaddish for the deceased and beliefs about encountering the dead in visions and dreams.
After One-Hundred-and-Twenty is also Hillel Halkin's eloquent and disarmingly candid reflection on his own mortality, the deaths of those he has known and loved, and the comfort he has and has not derived from Jewish tradition.
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Halkin (Yehuda Halevi) combines an accessible and trenchant exploration of Judaism's evolving concepts of death with his own struggle with understanding it. He leavens what could be a depressing read with humor, noting that Circe's instructions to Odysseus on how to reach Hades constitute "rather imprecise directions." But even that comment has a point: to illustrate the way that the "country of death" was viewed by ancient Greeks and Egyptians as a real place, and to contrast their views of the afterlife with those of biblical Judaism. That comparative analysis continues as Halkin traces the introduction of concepts such as reincarnation into the Jewish tradition, as Judaism borrowed elements from other faiths and philosophies. Even readers generally familiar with the history of Jewish beliefs about death will find his summation of interest. "For the most part," he notes, "contemporary Judaism has preferred to talk about something else," and most prominent thinkers don't deal with the afterlife. Halkin's frankness about his own difficulties in coming to terms with his parents' deaths and traditional Jewish rituals such as sitting shiva help make this nuanced quest for meaning personal and affecting.
