The earliest evidence of flowers being used in funerals has been found in ancient graves unearthed in Israel, archaeologists said on Tuesday, releasing results of a research project that began a decade ago. Impressions of stems and flowers, probably from mint and sage plants, were discovered in four graves, between 11,700- and 13,700-years-old, at a…
The annual meeting of the Jewish death care radicals is no place for a funeral director. That became clear just after lunch on the second full day of the North American Chevra Kadisha and Jewish Cemetery Conference, when an attorney named Efrem Grail unloaded on the coffin hawkers. “This is about a protected profession which…
Consolation is on my mind, doubtless because just the other day I addressed a convention of a truly extraordinary organization called Kavod v’Nichum, Honor and Comfort. They’d gathered in Philadelphia, and because I once wrote some words expressing my awe at their devotion and their decency, they invited me to be with them. They are…
In this week’s Reporters Roundtable podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward news editor Larry Cohler-Esses to discuss a recent gathering of Jewish activists who want to take back funerals from the death care industry. Then, Forward intern Frimet Goldberger drops by to discuss a massive rally organized by the Satmar Hasidic sect in…
Egypt’s tiny Jewish community, a frail remnant of a once flourishing minority, held a rare public ceremony on Thursday in memory of its veteran leader, Carmen Weinstein, but the country’s Islamist leaders stayed away. Weinstein, 82, died last Saturday at her home in Cairo where she was known over the past two decades for leading…
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was memorialized on Monday as an in-your-face, wisecracking leader who helped transform the city from a symbol of urban decay to the vital, glittering metropolis it is today. As Koch’s casket was led out of Temple Emanu-El, a soaring Fifth Ave. synagogue opposite Central Park, an organ played…
Bill Clinton will be there to tell Ed Koch one last time that he did just fine. The former president will lead a parade of dignitaries at Monday’s funeral for the ex-New York mayor, who coined the phrase, ‘How’m I Doin’?’ Clinton will cut short an Asian trip to speak at the service at Manhattan’s…
The heartbroken father of internet activist Aaron Swartz blamed the government for his son’s suicide in an emotional eulogy at his funeral in suburban Chicago. “Aaron did not commit suicide — he was killed by the government,” Robert Swartz said to 200 mourners packing Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Ill., the New York Post…
100% of profits support our journalism
