In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Rabbi Shlomo Brody and Dr. Beth Popp, who work with Ematai, an organization focused on end-of-life care, about the process of death and how we ought to live with our own mortality. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• How do we connect to eternity within this finite existence? 
• What halachic issues must we consider when making end-of-life decisions?
• What happens to the body of someone who’s died? 

Tune in to hear a conversation about how we can sanctify life in the face of mortality. 

Interview begins at 18:30

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody is the executive director of Ematai and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post. His first book, A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates, received a National Jewish Book Award. His newest book, Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality, was published in 2023. A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College, he received rabbinic ordination from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, an MA in Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University, and his PhD from Bar Ilan University Law School.

Dr. Beth Popp is a professor on the faculty of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, specializing in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She has served on hospital ethics committees for most of her career and presents regularly to community groups to clarify the role of hospice and palliative care in the healthcare system. She has been extensively involved in educating rabbinic leaders about the medical aspects of serious illness and end-of-life care. 

References:

Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner's Theology of Meaning by Alon Shalev

Pachad Yitzchak al Shavuot by Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner

“Letters of Love and Rebuke From Rav Yitzchok Hutner” by David Bashevkin

Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality by Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody

A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates by Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

Seinfeld: “The Comeback”

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

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