Sylvia Sodden lay on life support in a critical care room in Brooklyn when her health care proxy made the hardest choice: He decided to end her life. But before any machines could be unplugged, her relatives turned to Chayim Aruchim, a program that helps ultra-Orthodox Jews navigate end-of-life care. Chayim Aruchim referred the family…
You may have heard by now (and if not, SPOILER ALERT) that there was a tragic death on the last night’s premiere of “The Simpsons.” Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, on-and-off estranged father to Krusty the Clown, has left us for the magical shul in the sky known as “Jewish Heaven.” He was 74 years old. Voiced…
It’s sometimes said that religion originated out of the fear of death. We all face the abyss, and we all grieve when our loved ones pass away. From this utter meaninglessness, the theory goes, myths of meaning arise. A review of Biblical literature, however, calls this theory into question. Unlike many indigenous and shamanic traditions,…
A New York man was charged with hiding his Holocaust survivor mother’s death in order to collect her reparations benefits. Gary Jacoby, 61, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday on grand larceny and forgery charges, the Daily News reported. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Jacoby’s mother, Laura, died…
An Israeli civilian bringing food to Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border was the first Israeli killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge. The 37-year-old man was pronounced dead upon arrival at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon on Tuesday afternoon; he had received emergency treatment in the field. He was…
(JTA) — The ratio of Palestinian deaths to Israeli deaths is one of the most important measurements of the Gaza war. The toll clearly disproportionate — as of this writing, about 192:1. There are a few different ways to look at this rate. Critics of Israel herald the lopsided figure as evidence of Israeli barbarism….
‘I’m doing this because I love you,” my mother insisted. For decades she tried to prepare me for her inevitable demise. Long before she succumbed to dementia, in between golf tournaments, she’d drag me to the bank vault every time I visited her in Florida, to give me a private tour of her safety deposit…
Humanity’s oldest dream turns out to be Roz Chast’s worst nightmare. “Imagine some horrible dystopian future, some 50 years from now, where people just stop dying,” she says, sitting in her living room in quaint, rural Connecticut, surrounded by pastel-colored walls, books and colorful knickknacks. “They’re 98, they’re 102, they’re 107, they’re 112” — the…
100% of profits support our journalism
