“According to the laws of the Talmud the period of death is full
of controversy.” So began the first of a two-part lecture series,
The Caroline Zelaznik Gruss and Joseph S. Gruss Lectures in Talmudic
Civil Law. For the second year, Moshe Halbertal, a Visiting
Professor at the Law School from Hebrew University where he is a Professor
of Jewish Thought and Philosophy delivered these thoughtful and timely
talks. Entitled “Facing Loss: Laws of Mourning in Jewish Law,”
Professor Halbertal delivered two lectures along this theme to the Law
School community: “Before Burial: Death and Law,” and “Law
and Grief.” “Death upsets order,” he said at the first
lecture. “ It causes anarchy and disorder. It’s an equalizer.”
In support of his argument, he referred to Maimonides’ Laws of Mourning,
which give specific rules for how to deal with the death, with the mourner,
and with the community. Noting that it is “not a therapeutic manual
but a list of prohibitions,” he continued, “The
way we honor death mirrors the way we value life.” As
the second lecture, Professor Halbertal identified the stage after burial
as the time when mourning really begins. He characterized it as “a
cathartic period of sadness. There’s a gradual diminishing of grief
as one moves from one stage to another.” There are rituals prescribed
in the laws that isolate the mourner, and isolate the deceased as a way
“to bring them into the world.” The Grusses established the
lecture, a chaired professorship for a visiting scholar, and contributed
a collection of scholarly materials on Talmudic law to the Biddle Law
Library in 1987. 
