THE YEAR OF MOURNING

Grant presents a Reform Jewish guide to the mourning process.

How can Jewish tradition, literature, and wisdom help someone who has suffered the loss of a loved one navigate the mourning process? In this anthology, the editor, the director of the New York rabbinical program of Hebrew Union College and the author, co-author, or co-editor of multiple other Jewish resources, presents a guidebook full of materials designed to assist the mourner through the process of grieving during the first year after a loss. Grant and Segal, her consulting editor, gather traditional and nontraditional materials from a variety of sources and movements within Judaism. The work includes songs and poems from Jewish religious thinkers ranging from lay liturgist and poet Alden Solovy (whose “In Sorrow” is included: “Air. / All I need is air. / A breath to give oxygen / To the anguish within”) to Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and the late Rabbi Rachel Cowan as well as classic Hebrew poems by Zelda and Rivka Miriam (whose “Tearing” observes, “There was a peaceful tearing / like the peaceful tearing of twilight / when the warp and woof are parted for an instant / so that their continuing can take place), translated by Rabbi Steven G. Sager. The anthology also contains a couple of non-Jewish sources, including Rumi and e.e. cummings. This book, written in response to the disruptive effects of the recent Covid pandemic on Jewish funerary practices, is presented specifically as a Jewish guide and includes plenty of Jewish liturgical excerpts as well as instructions to say the kaddish at the end of each unit. The concluding chapters offer information on enhancing the practices undertaken during various phases of Jewish mourning. Still, the themes explored in each unit, from pain and brokenness to acceptance and gratitude, have the potential to engage other audiences.

A welcome Jewish resource for making the journey through loss.