18Forty Podcast Shlomo Brody & Beth Popp: Demystifying Death and the End of Life [Loss 1/3]
Jul 15, 2025
Shlomo Brody, Executive Director of Ematai and a columnist, teams up with Dr. Beth Popp, a professor of Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai. They dive into the complexities of defining death and the ethical nuances surrounding end-of-life care. Topics include how to navigate medical decisions and the importance of proactive conversations about mortality. They discuss the interplay between personal experiences and cultural attitudes toward death, emphasizing compassionate care and communication as vital elements in managing loss.
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Existential Alienation Explained
- Kierkegaard identified existential alienation as the clash between finite existence and infinite possibility.
- This tension between limited bodily existence and limitless consciousness causes despair and meaninglessness.
Rav Hutner on Meaning and Death
- Rav Hutner questioned how meaning exists if the world continues after an individual dies.
- He highlighted the tension between the finite life and the notion that the world was created for each person.
Rav Chaim's Melancholy on Death
- Rabbi Saloveitchik shared how his grandfather, Rav Chaim of Brisk, was deeply troubled thinking about death.
- This reflects the Jewish approach of confronting mortality to sanctify life meaningfully.
