Letters

Only a selection of letters can be published. Priority goes to those that are brief and topical.

By JERUSALEM POST READERS
Letters 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Saying goodbye
Sir, – Regarding “That’s no way to say goodbye” (Psychology, May 16), I imagined a silver ball bouncing around inside the weekly lottery machine. It’s unlikely that someone else could associate this image with feelings of grief, yet it’s the best metaphor I can come up with to explain the unpredictability of my emotional patterns when mourning for my near and dear ones.
Today, grief is seen as a psychological problem that has to be overcome. The grieving person gets time off work for the funeral, is often handed a prescription for an antidepressant, and is then given membership in a bereavement support group.
I didn’t think that I believed in rituals, but I soon realized that the traditions I turned to while mourning gave me a sense of control over my grieving process and in time helped alleviate my grief somewhat. Playing a favorite song, walking along the beach or watching a sunset evoked fond memories and brought out a cathartic cry, which was always helpful.
I truly believe that grief is a part of the human condition like fear or anger; the price I had to pay for loving so deeply.
JILL SADOWSKY Ra’anana
Sir, – “That’s no way to say goodbye” offers important guidance regarding planning for life’s end.
The oft avoided topic of death and dying and facilitating frank conversations around values, wishes and desires is the focal point of Life’s Door-Tishkofet (LDT), which has offered tens of thousands of individuals a path to break the silence and engage in meaningful exchange around these central issues. In fact, we were pleased to see Dr.
Batya Ludman refer to The Conversation Project (TCP) as a resource. LDT, through its national network of psycho- social and spiritual care professionals along with its hundreds of volunteers, has been designated as the Israel representative of TCP.
In addition to translating its “starter kit” into Hebrew (and soon into Arabic and Russian), we have trained our teams to facilitate this sensitive and powerful process and have begun to offer seminars to the community at large.
In the 10 years of our work, Life’s Door-Tishkofet has seen the power of speaking about life, death and everything in between, and can attest that it is never too soon to share one’s thoughts about values and desires regarding how we wish to spend our final years and days.
BEN CORN and DVORA CORN Jerusalem. The writers are founders of Life’s Door-Tishkofet.
Hope in the light
Sir, – I am so grateful to Barbara Sofer for having written “In Piotrkow with Rina Quint” (The Human Spirit, May 16).
Rena is one of the most articulate, effervescent and charismatic personalities.
She has told the absolutely unique story of her life to tens of thousands of people.
She has never broken down into self-pity, bitterness or hatred of individuals.
Because she is so special she has been even more effective than many of the great scholars of the Holocaust in making their audiences understand what happened to the human souls during the Holocaust and how liberating Israel became to survivors. She makes it apparent that to live in Israel makes the individual truly free in a free land.
It is not my place to write about the many unusual groups that have heard her and been transformed by her into friends of Israel, but it is time for me to recommend that she be one of the people who light the candle at Yad Vashem’s great, most meaningful evening on Holocaust Remembrance Day. There is no survivor I know of now living in the State of Israel who better represents the light that casts away the darkness and gives hope more than Rena Quint.
THELMA SUSSWEIN Jerusalem