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Jewish Chaplaincy Resources

  • 4 days ago
  • 4 min read

About Judaism

Judaism is an ancient peoplehood, with a way of perceiving reality, a set of obligations and miraculous events that have sustained this small but determined ethnic group—which now consists of a mere 15,000,000 people—for nearly 3,500 years.


Judaism in Canada


Principles of Judaism


  • The infinite worth of the human being

  • The sanctity of time and rest

  • The insistence on meaning over convenience

  • Justice tethered to mercy

  • Humility before God and the mystery of existence

  • Memory as a moral judge—that we can learn from our past actions

  • Resistance to idols—political ones, cultural ones, and those who hold the reins of power

  • Those who are Jewish do not seek converts because all humans carry the divine spark of God

  • The Jewish people is a tribe, a diverse people, who create community wherever they are and try to make the world a better place while fitting in as best they can


 “Judaism experiences meaning as faith. Its vision of the ethical life is morality. It is an ethic of love: love of God, of neighbour, and the stranger. Judaism also has a strongly internalized sense of conscience, guilt, sin, and repentance. Judaism is focused on God, the universe and the human person. It brings together… religion and ethics so that to love God and to love one’s  fellow human are indivisible. The intricate and demanding nature of Judaism allowed Jews to preserve their identity in exile and dispersion for two thousand years, despite the fact that wherever they found themselves, they were a cultural and religious minority. 

~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (2020), Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, pp. 265, 268, 285. 



Attitudes to death and dying

  • Most Jewish communities have a bikur cholim committee who visit sick

    members of their community. This is done to ease their passage from earth to

    the eternal life of heaven.

  • Jewish tradition places a high value on caring for the elderly. When facing a terminal illness, friends and family will visit to provide additional support and care

  • If the patient is conscious, it is customary to offer a vidui, a confessional

    prayer that allows the individual the opportunity to express regret, confess

    sins and ask for forgiveness. When a Jewish person is in hospice it is common

    to recite pidyon nefesh, a prayer that is meant to relieve suffering and distress.

  • Jewish law generally mandates that a patient never be deprived of food, water,

    and oxygen, even if that means they are artificially provided. Hospice patients

    may be concerned with following this law and ask that intravenous fluids be

    provided as they are religiously required.

  • When a Jewish person is in hospice, it is common to recite pidyon nefesh, a

    prayer that is meant to relieve suffering and distress.

  • Once the moment of death passes, the eyes and mouth of the patient should be

    gently closed with the jaw bound so it does not open. Fingers and limbs should

    be straightened so that they are parallel to the body. Feet pointed toward the door

    and a candle lit. Wounds and tubes should be covered before covering the

    body with a sheet.

  • The body is never left alone, as many believe the soul is still present after

    death.

  • Hospice staff should not wash the body of a Jewish patient after death.



Jewish resources for hospice chaplains

Recommended books & resources

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