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For the United Synagogue Burial Society, in death, dignity and care trump the rules of life

Transgender people may find halachah inflexible in life - but compassionate and respectful in death

April 4, 2019 11:29
The United Synagogue's Bushey New Cemetery
7 min read

Every year, on the evening of the seventh of the Jewish month of Adar, each Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) gathers together. During the day, they will often spend time visiting the graves of some of the people they have interred during the year.

The date is symbolic. It is the anniversary of the death of Moses, who passed away at the age of 120 — a key reason why in Judaism we wish people to live to such an age.

Chevra Kadisha literally means “holy friends”; among themselves, however, members will refer to it as “the Chevra” — the friends. And in the UK, as elsewhere around the world, on Adar 7, each Chevra will meet.

The one exception to the rule in the UK is the burial society of Munks, the independent German-Jewish synagogue in Golders Green. They meet not on the 7th of Adar but on the 15th of MarCheshvan — the anniversary of Kristallnacht.