The Pandemic and Mourning, by Ted Riter
“Unprecedented…unparalleled…extraordinary…” These are some of the adjectives that accompany talk of the COVID-19 Pandemic. These may all be true for the actual virus and how it spreads, but how we move through this time period is all too familiar.
As a rabbi and leadership coach, guiding people through death, mourning and other crises for the past 25 years, this is what I have learned:
- For the mourners, the time immediately after death through the next days, weeks, and longer, can seem surreal. Everyone else is going about their lives as usual, and the mourner’s world has come to a screeching halt.
- Life will never be the same again.
- There are competing needs to be both with others and