In recent years, a great deal of attention has been directed to the question of what constitutes a ‘good death’. While once the focus of religious life might have been more on what (if anything) happens after death, now there is greater focus on the experience of death, dying and mourning, and how we should respond to loss and grief. What are the insights of Judaism into these questions, and does Reform Judaism have a distinctive contribution to make?
Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, of Edgware and Hendon Synagogue, discusses death and the afterlife in this article.