Death, the ultimate frontier - but can it also be a source of joy? I was surprised when my father, a Holocaust survivor, who had more than his share of exposure to corpses, brought this idea up at a conversation we had not long before he died. He quoted a verse from Isaiah to back this up. This verse showed up in chapter 55, this past week during our ongoing below the bible belt journey - and stopped me in my tracks.
כִּֽי־בְשִׂמְחָ֣ה תֵצֵ֔אוּ וּבְשָׁל֖וֹם תּוּבָל֑וּן הֶהָרִ֣ים וְהַגְּבָע֗וֹת יִפְצְח֤וּ לִפְנֵיכֶם֙ רִנָּ֔ה וְכׇל־עֲצֵ֥י הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִמְחֲאוּ־כָֽף׃
“You shall leave in joy and be led home in peace.
Before you, mountains and hills shall sing,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Isaiah 56:1
Isaiah may be talking to the Judeans still back in Babylon, urging them to leave the exile in joy and watch as nature celebrates their departure and safe journey back to Zion. But that line has been taken out of context to frame lots of different ways of leaving - including leaving life behind. Can it be a happy moment? My father thought so. In theory anyway. He quoted memories from his childhood in Poland, including the use of this verse and the tune that went along with it, at the funeral of a prominent rabbi and relative. It may have been this tune, sung in this recording by the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his hasidim in NYC.
Why sing this happy song at funerals? My father said
“ It means that the departed is welcome in the next world - with joy. Leaving this world with joy means that you need to accept with joy all that happens - your fate, and also your death. My father eulogized Rabbi Meir Shapiro, his cousin, with these words, at the funeral in Lublin. And they sang this tune and these words as they led him to his grave. Some people told me that my father also used this verse when he led his community to their deaths in Treblinka.”
Can we aspire to such equanimity and joy even in our harshest moments?
Grateful to my father today, my grandfather, my ancestors and prophets. Memories are blessings.
May we find joy in every moment, even the harsh ones, as we go from place to place, past to present, now to next, with gratitude, acceptance and a song.
Shabbat Shalom
NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:
Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah
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Happy Songs for Funerals: Life Lessons from my Father (& Isaiah)