Sublime

exsanguinated,

From a Jewish perspective, however, these practices run counter to the principle of kevod ha-met by turning the body into a thing that is manipulated for the benefit of others. In a tradition where memory is considered a primary obligation and blessing, most people prefer to remember

But Thomas Hart, who still feared death’s sting, was grieving in his pew under the halted moons. Weak light shone on the brass plaque bolted to the coffin: ANNE MARGARET MACAULAY. So that varnished pine contained her flushed cheeks, walking shoes, prudence, preference for Yorkshire tea, shyness, cuttings of African violet, habit of testing the heat

embalming were something a tradesman like Bruce would never perform on his own mother, I wondered why we were performing it on anyone at all.

Without refrigeration, in the heat of the summer months, the noxious smell of human decomposition in these churches must have been unimaginable. Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini complained that “there are so many tombs in the church, and they are so often opened that this abominable smell is too often unmistakable. However much they fumigate

It personalized death, the faculty said, it restored dignity to the undignified process of dying.

we do not believe in embalming. It is not a ritual that brings us comfort; it is an additional $900 charge on our funeral bills.