.ברוך דין אמת Blessed is the True Judge.
O God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high, grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence, in the lofty levels of the holy and pure ones, who shine like the glow of the firmament, for the soul of Aviva your daughter, who has gone to her eternal home. May her resting place be in the Garden of Eden; therefore may the Master of mercy shelter her in the shadow of His wings for eternity; and may He bind her soul in the Bond of Life. The Lord is her heritage, and may she repose in peace on her resting place. Now let us say, Amen.
May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified (Amen.)
in the world that He created as He willed.
May He give reign to His kingship in your lifetimes and in your days,
and in the lifetimes of the entire Family of Israel,
swiftly and soon. Now respond: Amen.
(Cong Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever.)
May His great Name be blessed forever and ever.
Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled,
mighty, upraised, and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He
(Cong. Blessed is He) beyond any blessing and song,
praise and consolation that are uttered in the world. Now respond: Amen.
May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life
upon us and upon all Israel. Now respond: Amen.
He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace,
upon us and upon all Israel. Now respond: Amen.
I am so very very sorry to hear this. She has a beauty and grace to her that is evident even in the photo.
Please drop a line if there's anything any of us can do to help you through this time.
Thanks, Brigid. As noted in the next post up, she was a friend, but a friend of many years standing whom at one point in our lives I would have liked to have been more than a friend :)
She was in terrible pain and had no quality of life. Frankly I thought she was going to stop the palliative measures after last Thanksgiving (she was getting dialysis three times a week), and I guess she reconsidered. She made it to Mother's Day and got to see her older son and her grandson one last time, and I guess that was sufficient.
A couple of years ago, she "died" during dialysis and was immediately resuscitated. She told me later that she wished they had not brought her back, but she didn't have a do-not-resuscitate order on file at the time, and the treatment clinic wouldn't have been bound by it anyway. During a stay in rehab after that, she disobeyed orders and tried to get to the bathroom by herself, but fell and broke her hip. They couldn't do anything about her hip because she was too weak to be operated on. When I consider how quickly she deteriorated after that, and then just lingered for the rest of her life, I think she was right. It would have been harder for everyone else because of the suddenness, but she sure wouldn't have suffered like she did.
My sincerest condolences to the loss of your friend.