A minor character, Alfri Levayn, a guard on Orion Two, says that he is a student of history because: "'My people tend to be.'" (4, p. 411) He turns out to be Jewish:
"'Yesterday evening Rabbi Kemmer went about lamenting. He called for atonement, he recited Kaddish for the slain Mong. Others of us, like me, remembered Joshua; and the Captivity; the Maccabees; and the destruction of the Temple; the Khazars; and the Holocaust; Ben-Gurion...'" (4, pp. 411-412)
Jewish history continues long after the closure of the canon of scripture but Levayn makes plenty of Biblical references here. I could google and link to all these references but maybe this time I should leave it to the alert blog reader to google?
Because my son-in-law, Ketlan Ossowski, was of Jewish descent, the Kaddish was recited at his otherwise secular funeral, then I read from Philip Pullman about the world of the dead.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
This Jewish character and his rabbi were probably the equivalent of Conservative Jews, because I'm not sure if any strictly ORTHODOX Jews would work on anything so secular as Project Orion.
What you said about Ketlan made me try to think of passages from the works of Anderson which could be appropriately read at funerals. I'm sure there are some!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I’m awake between what our ancestors would have called first sleep and second sleep. There are Modern Orthodox Jews in today’s world who have secular jobs as businessmen, computer programmers, pharmacists, or whatever (I remember an sf-reading pharmacist from the Lois McMaster Bujold email list, who takes his Jewish faith very seriously). I don’t know what sort of Jew this Anderson character is supposed to be, but so long as his work as a guard did not require him to work on the Jewish Sabbath, or at least not unless it was necessary to preserve human life, I don’t think being Orthodox would be a problem.
I’m not sure what passages would be precisely suitable to be read at funerals, but I remember the immortal Japanese lady in BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS, mourning an infant who proved too mortal. “Farewell, child of mine. May you not be cold or hungry or afraid, wherever you have gone.” That brings tears to my eyes. There’s also the Ythrian funeral in THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND. “High is Heaven and holy.”
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Nicholas!
What you said about Jews, Conservative or Orthodox, makes sense to me and I'm willing to agree with you. Reasonable accommodation to the religious beliefs of this particular Jew were probably made.
I really should have thought of that bit from THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS, it would be appropriate for the funeral of a child. "High is heaven and holy" is also apt. A lengthier passage from Anderson's works for a funeral would also be nice.
You seem to be very busy, but I hope we can see more comments from your, if you have time!
Ad astra! Sean
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