Submitted by Ian Bryce on 26 February 2008 - 5:17pm.
The Shomer is of considerable spiritual significance but has less creative content. It raises important questions about the source of human religions, rituals and cultures.
It records successfully the activities of a Jewish undertaker - a subject totally foreign to most of us. He is very open and honest about a career many would cringe from. The pauper and the rich man are treated equally - all get a plain pine coffin, devoid of brass fittings. And the rich man's crowd are asked to flesh out the poor man's few mourners. Male bodies are prepared my men, women by women.
What does the title mean? A little research shows a "Shomer" can mean a paid custodian. It can also mean a stamper of carcasses in an abattoir. But shomer can also mean something spiritual - such as when the undertaker says "...when He decides to take the soul and the shomer back". It would be nice to explain.
My most lingering impression (as a secularist) was the lack of concern about where the rituals come from. For example, the bodies are dipped in holy water, dressed in white garments, and sprinkled with soil from the Holy Land. Most Jewish funerary rituals are based on the Torah (a holy book inspired by God), and the undertaker makes several references to a divine being, as in taking the soul back. But he never mentions the Jewish bibles - either he has accepted the human origins, or he doesn't care. To me, this is a momentous question - either God laid down these pointless rules, different for every sect and era on earth, which can only be some sort of joke. Or religions, morals and rituals are manmade - the product of the huge variety of human cultures.
There is a more sinister procedure. The undertaker binds himself with straps and tefillin (leather box containing sacred parchments), producing discomfort or even pain. He is then high on religion, without drugs. I suspect there is a grey area between such rituals, and masochistic rituals such as the flagellation, stigmata and tortuous pilgrimages seen in other religions. What worries me is this: if they are willing to harm themselves in the name of their One True God, then would they hesitate to harm others? Especially those who believe only in false gods?
Where do the rituals come from?
The Shomer is of considerable spiritual significance but has less creative content. It raises important questions about the source of human religions, rituals and cultures.
It records successfully the activities of a Jewish undertaker - a subject totally foreign to most of us. He is very open and honest about a career many would cringe from. The pauper and the rich man are treated equally - all get a plain pine coffin, devoid of brass fittings. And the rich man's crowd are asked to flesh out the poor man's few mourners. Male bodies are prepared my men, women by women.
What does the title mean? A little research shows a "Shomer" can mean a paid custodian. It can also mean a stamper of carcasses in an abattoir. But shomer can also mean something spiritual - such as when the undertaker says "...when He decides to take the soul and the shomer back". It would be nice to explain.
My most lingering impression (as a secularist) was the lack of concern about where the rituals come from. For example, the bodies are dipped in holy water, dressed in white garments, and sprinkled with soil from the Holy Land. Most Jewish funerary rituals are based on the Torah (a holy book inspired by God), and the undertaker makes several references to a divine being, as in taking the soul back. But he never mentions the Jewish bibles - either he has accepted the human origins, or he doesn't care. To me, this is a momentous question - either God laid down these pointless rules, different for every sect and era on earth, which can only be some sort of joke. Or religions, morals and rituals are manmade - the product of the huge variety of human cultures.
There is a more sinister procedure. The undertaker binds himself with straps and tefillin (leather box containing sacred parchments), producing discomfort or even pain. He is then high on religion, without drugs. I suspect there is a grey area between such rituals, and masochistic rituals such as the flagellation, stigmata and tortuous pilgrimages seen in other religions. What worries me is this: if they are willing to harm themselves in the name of their One True God, then would they hesitate to harm others? Especially those who believe only in false gods?