Ethical Wills & How to Prepare Them: A Guide to Sharing Your Values from Generation to Generation

Ethical wills are precious spiritual documents, windows into the souls of those who write them and are often a treasured part of a family's history. These "legacy letters" sum up what you have learned in life and what you want most for and from, your loved ones. This book - a unique combination of "what is" and "how to" - offers a step-by-step process to help you prepare an ethical will of your own and provides a wide range of contemporary ethical wills to help you do it. It reveals the ongoing relevance of this traditional Jewish practice for people of all faiths, all backgrounds. The emotional power of the nearly one hundred last letters collected here, written by both famous and ordinary Jewish people, will inspire you to live more fully now and to record your own blessings for the generations to come. "Done right, an ethical will is a gift of love, a way of saying, 'This is what I found gave me satisfaction and gave my life meaning. It animated my relationship to you and to your mother (or father). May it do the same for you. I send this to you with much love.'" -from the Foreword by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

Table of Contents:
Foreword—Rabbi Harold S. Kushner Preface—Dr. Nathaniel Stampfer Acknowledgments Introduction to the Revised Edition—Rabbi Jack Riemer What I Have Learned Since I Began Collecting Ethical Wills—Rabbi Jack Riemer PART ONE: Traditional Wills Solomon Kluger "Preparing provisions for the journey" Moshe Yeshoshua Zelig Hakohen "A guide for the practices of piety" Benjamin M. Roth "A letter to a departing son" Mordekhai Mottel Michelsohn “I shall give you some useful advice” Shmuel Tefilinsky “Put your trust in God and He will sustain you” Hayyim Elazar Shapira (The Munkatcher Rebbe) “We merit redemption by virtue of our choices” Yehuda Leib Graubart (The Stashever Rav) “Return the borrowed books in my possession” PART TWO: Wills from the Holocaust Hirsch Moshe Zaddok “They treated us like animals” A Mother's Will “A struggle for the sanctification of the human heart” Zippora Birman “No choice but to die with honor” Among the Embers: Martyrs' Testaments The last twelve Jews in Chelmno David Elster, on the synagogue wall The members of “Dror” Gina Atlas, on the synagogue wall A young woman, on the synagogue wall Berl Tomshelski, on a wooden board A Polish Jew, to the Blozhever Rebbe The Chief Rabbi of Grodzisk “Let him come, but let me not see him” On the Walls of Bialystok Prison Shulamit Rabinovitch “Don't mourn for us with tears and words, but rather with deeds” Shulamit Rabinovitch’s Husband “Our fate lies in wait for us” PART THREE: Wills from the Land of Israel Elijah David Rabinovitz (Teomim) “Always have I received more honor than I deserved” Theodor Herzl “I wielded my pen as an honest man” Edmond James de Rothschild “My eldest son James … will further my work” Abraham Isaac Kook “Help your holy people” Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel The shepherd thanks his flock Alter Ya’akov Sahrai “Loyal to his people, its Torah, and its land” Meir Dizengoff To the new life beyond Awareness Yitzhak Ben Nehemia Margalit “Come, I will show thee where earth meets heaven” Naftali Swiatitsky “I have only one request” Hannah Senesh “There are events without which one’s life becomes unimportant” Noam Grossman “Do not eulogize me; I did my duty” Avraham Kreizman “When I die, for you I shall continue to live” Eldad Pan “Life by itself is worth little unless it serves something greater than itself” Dvora Waysman “I am leaving you an extended family” PART FOUR: Wills of Modern and Contemporary American Jews Nissen Sheinberg “From me, your friend and father” Emil Greenberg “A wisp, a whisper of immortality becomes mine, and yours” Yitschak Kelman “The Holy Presence is with the sick” Bernard L. Levinthal “Be bound by the oath taken at the foot of Mount Sinai” David De Sola Pool An affirmation of life Sholom Aleichem “Bury me … among the common Jewish folk” Mordkhe Schaechter “Have no fear of being in the minority” Dora Chazin “Find favor in the eyes of God and man” William Schulder “Never consider yourself greater than the next man” Hayim Greenberg “I have erred not out of love of sin” Rafael L. Savitzky “In America the women are the saintly souls” Samuel Lipsitz “Live together in harmony” Sadie S. Kulakofsky “The principles of Judaism and the basis of civilization” Sidney Rabinowitz “I wanted to do something to make the world better” Samuel Furash “You are the nearest stars in my heaven” Harold Katz “So that all mankind could live in a free and peaceful world” Madeline Medoff “They carry something of me in their lives” Allen Hofrichter “An ineffable peace entered our house” Jennie Stein Berman “You should always be together” Leonard Ratner “Don’t forget your seats at Park Synagogue” Harold “Be forever vigilant for those in need” Randee Rosenberg Friedman “Open your hearts and your homes” Rosie Rosenzweig “Your good character will earn you your way” William Joseph Adelson “What I consider really important” Hayyim and Esther Kieval “We have both loved the United States” Nitzah Marsha Jospe “What is important is to make each day good” William Lewis Abramowitz “Ritual is only a tool to remind us who we are” Marcia Lawson “As Jews within the human family” Sam Levenson “I leave you … some four-letter words for all occasions” Richard J. Israel “With a love that has been well seasoned” Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman “From Vilna to Connecticut to Jerusalem” Stanley J. Garfein “Finish your final business” Rabbi Monroe Levens “Life here is a great and wonderful adventure” PART FIVE: Three Wills from Classics of Modern Jewish Literature Zvi Kolitz Yossel Rakover Speaks to God Y. L. Peretz Four Generations—Four Wills Avraham Sutzkever The Will of Nissim Laniado PART SIX: A Guide to Writing Your Own Ethical Will Topical Index Credits Notes

About the Author :
Rabbi Jack Riemer has helped many people record their values and spiritual legacies through ethical wills, conducting workshops and seminars to offer guidance in this inspiring tradition. A well-known author and speaker, he is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Tikvah (now Shaarei Kodesh) in Boca Raton, Florida, and founded the National Rabbinic Network, a support system for rabbis across all denominational lines. He is editor of The World of the High Holy Days and Wrestling with the Angel and coauthor of Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them. Dr. Nathaniel Stampfer served Spertus Institute for many years as dean, vice president for academic affairs and professor of Jewish education. Harold S. Kushner is author of the best-selling books When Bad Things Happen to Good People and Living a Life That Matters.

Review :
"Fascinating reading.... Especially valuable is the message ... that these documents continue to have meaning for modern Jews." —Hadassah Magazine “Ethical wills remind us of what are the essentials in life; they offer a model of how to live.” —Blu Greenberg, author, On Women and Judaism “This remarkable volume will enrich all those who will read it and meditate upon its infinite wisdom.” —Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate “While the book is written from a Jewish viewpoint, its principles can easily be adapted by people of other faiths.” —Los Angeles Times “Uplifting.” —Library Journal “Extraordinary.... [Readers will] return to their own lives with a heightened sense of meaning, purpose and gratitude.” —Moment “Very inspiring and moving.... Sums it all up by providing a structured but flexible guide to writing your own ethical will.” —Jerusalem Post “Perfect, an eclectic mix which will whet your appetite for more. More importantly, the included 'Guide to Writing Your Own Ethical Will' will be very helpful.” —UJF Virginia News