You Can't Touch This

Arturo Jimenez

English 112

08/31/17

“You Can’t Touch This”

It’s very easy to believe that when you are surrounded by many people that are just like you, following the same traditions; there is no other way of living. I personally was raised in a congregation, where when one passes; there would just be a funeral and burial. No rules, just a person passing on to heaven or hell. All of this changed once I started my most recent job, which is as a Patient Transporter, at a Hospital. I have learned new traditions, as I meet patients from other cultures.

One perfect example of when I learned a new tradition was when one of my patients passed away. When a patient at the hospital passes away, the nurse notifies the transporter that the patient has to be taken down to the morgue. As a transporter we have certain protocols we have to follow. For a situation like this, we get a stretcher, put a clean sheet on the stretcher and head towards the patients room. When transporters are called to take the patient down, we are never told any specifics about the patient. We don’t know their race or religion. So when I go upstairs, I see a rabbi by the patients room and as I approach him, he addresses me and tells me to leave the stretcher there and that he would handle it from there on forward. I stood there; confused, but none the less I did as he told me. I was curious as to why he had turned me away. I spoke to a nursing supervisor a few moments later and she educated me on why the situation was handled in that manner. I also went on and did some extensive research. As explained by Maurice Lamm, “the principle governing the care of the body immediately following death is the sacredness of man”. What I understood about this is that it is in the Jewish tradition to honor ones death by all means. The Jewish religion also explains that the deceased body must be watched by a Shomer (watcher).

In conclusion I have learned that Hasidic Jews are very united and they are the only ones that are allowed to take care of their deceased family/friends. This experience has really opened my eyes to see there are many more traditions that are unique and completely different from mine.

WORK CITED

Lamm, Maurice. "Initial Care of The Deceased". http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281545/jewish/Initiual-Care-of-the-Deceased.htm. ND. Web. 1 Sep 2017.