This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Emor, is obsessed with death. It begins with the haunting line, directed at the priests: “L’Nefesh Lo Yitmah B’Amam.” I offer it in the Hebrew, because the English is somewhat undecipherable. It can be roughly translated: “the dead (nefesh) should not make you impure among your nation.” The Torah goes on to explain that a Cohen, or priest, is forbidden from approaching a dead body except in the case of their closest relatives, and for the High Priest there is no exception at all. Death is dangerous, and potentially contagious. So much so that even the word used here for death – nefesh – is typically used to speak about the living, meaning soul as if even the word itself was off limits.
It is with this in mind, that I was grateful to have been present at the opening night of the latest Jewish Repertory Theatre production of “Looking Through Glass” a modern retelling of the Yiddish classic “The Dybbuck.” Like that earlier work, the play is about a spirit that clings maliciously to someone who is living, sort of like the Jewish version of “The Exorcist,” but less in the genre of horror and more in that of romantic comedy. A small team of four actors, under the direction of the esteemed Saul Elkin, grapple with existential questions of life and afterlife in a way this week’s Torah portion is unable to even consider. Death is not a topic to be avoided, instead it is one filled with curiosity and wonder. The characters of the play address the audience several times asking us to consider the possibility that the souls of the dead live amongst us, even sometimes communicating directly with us, helping us navigate in the direction intended by God. The playwright, Ken Kaissar, who happened to be in attendance on the night I was there, gently invites us into a world of spirits that give voice to some of our deepest longings as mortal beings. I found the play both thought provoking and comforting and highly recommend you go out and see if for yourself if you have not done so already.
As to the Torah’s death crisis, we cannot know what our Biblical ancestors believed. Life was short for them; dealing with the dead a regular part of their everyday existence. Why this was off limits to priests is a question left unanswered. Perhaps they wanted to protect them from disease. Perhaps it was a way of caring for this class of society for who so much depended on. This is a human struggle, one that continues to this day and will continue beyond. We are creatures who understand our own mortality. As to what happens afterward, that is left to the dead to figure out.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 05/28/2019 by Marc Slonim