Transition Tradition
I've heard spooky stories of ordinary people who had visions before they died - eyewitness accounts of dying people who described departed relatives coming to greet them moments before they passed away. Recently I heard a story from a reliable source about a man who lived in Jerusalem one hundred years ago. He was an extremely argumentative person, always causing strife within his community. Moments before he died, his gathered relatives reported, he yelled out to remove large black, wild dogs from the room. No one else could see any dogs, but Jewish mysticism attribute such images to "angels of destruction."
I recently came across this topic described in a TED talk by a woman named Martha Atkins of the Death and Dying Institute in San Antonio, Texas. She describes some of her experiences working for decades with dying people and their families, and focuses on some of these stories. She refers to them as "Death Bed Phenomena." Her theory, which deeply resonates with me from a Jewish perspective, is that these experiences occur in order to help the dying person transition to a new reality, from the physical world to a spiritual one. The journey from earth to heaven involves a complicated transition, and those pre-death visions can make that transition a smoother and more manageable one for the soul.
I have been thinking about the Jewish view on the importance of dealing with transitions, specifically as it relates to the the Jewish calendar. Each week we transition from the mundane week to Shabbos, and then back again. We light candles and spend much time preparing ourselves, our families and homes for the arrival of the "Sabbath queen." Additionally, our tradition teaches us that angels come to our homes each Friday night as part of that transition from mundane to holy. We even sing a song called Shalom Aleichem to welcome those transitional angels.
The final jarring transition that has been on my mind is the one from Tisha B'av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar to Tu B'av, the 15th of Av, of which the Talmud says, "No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur," and the Shiva D'nechemta, the seven weeks of pre-High Holiday celebration. This quick turnaround from mourning to joy is made possible partly through the divine gift of Shabbos Nachamu, the annual Shabbat following Tisha B'av. The magic of Shabbat helps us pivot from Tisha B'av to consolation and joy. As we commemorate both the creation of the universe, as well as the Exodus from Egypt, beginning with kiddush, candle-lighting and family dinner all of the way through havdalah involving all five senses, with lots of time in the middle to focus on family, faith and food, this weekly 25-hour "island of tranquility" helps us acquire the tools to make this annual transition.
Shabbat Shalom and peaceful transitions!
Rabbi Koval
