Overview

The Hineni tool is an online learning resource designed to help understand Jewish end-of-life customs, rituals, and practices in a clear and approachable way. The tool includes 14 topic areas, each of which presents short, succinct paragraphs to give quick access to the information. Each topic is explored from four perspectives — physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual — along with a longer article for deeper learning. You’ll also find links to personal stories that bring these practices to life and show how they are experienced by various people and communities. Transliterated Hebrew words are easily understood as their definitions are displayed when the cursor is placed over the word.

Sources

Information presented in this tool was gleaned from many sources, including those from many Jewish denominations. This tool was developed by JADE, the Jewish Association for Death Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping all Jews understand the use and depth of Jewish traditions around death.

Audiences

The word, Hineni, is the transliteration of a Hebrew phrase used in the Torah, meaning “Here I am.” It was chosen to indicate this tool is here to give succinct, direct answers to everyone quickly and easily.

This tool applies to all levels of Jewish observance and is intended for general user learning. This tool is not an official dictum as to the application of Jewish law (halacha) nor does it indicate what is allowed or not allowed. Rather, it is an educational tool intended to help people understand Jewish end-of-life practices.

Hineni is intended to be used by at least four audiences:

• Death professionals: those who work with members of the Jewish community when facing a death, such as funeral directors, cemetery workers, hospice personnel, Jewish clergy, chaplains, death doulas, and hospital personnel;
• Families facing a death: those who need immediate information to make decisions about the care of a loved one after death;
  Those doing advance planning: families who are making arrangements for a future death and who want to understand traditional Jewish practices;
• Educators: those who teach Jewish practices in the community and who can use this tool as a teaching aid and as a resource for drashot for services, lectures, or classes, along with Chevrah Kadisha workers who want to expand their abilities to share these practices with their community.