Drop-In Book Discussion: Living with Our Dead by Delphine Horvilleur, Facilitated by Jim Van Buskirk
Join us for an in-person discussion at the Jewish Community Library. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking on Pierce between Ellis and Eddy. This event is co-sponsored by Sinai Memorial Chapel.
To register, click here. You may borrow a copy of Living with Our Dead at no charge as a printed book, eBook, or audiobook by contacting us at info@jewishcommunitylibrary.org.
About the book:
In this moving book by one of the leaders of France’s Liberal Jewish Movement, Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur recounts eleven stories of loss, mourning, and consolation, collected during the years she has spent caring for the dying and their loved ones.
Horvilleur writes about public figures and ordinary people alike, describing their encounters with death and dying with intelligence, humor, and compassion. They include Elsa Cayat, the psychologist and Charlie Hebdo columnist killed in the 2015 terrorist attack in Paris; political leader Simone Veil and filmmaker Marceline Loridan, “the girls of Birkenau”; Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated in 1995; Myriam, a New Yorker obsessed with planning her own funeral; and the author’s friend Ariane, struggling with terminal illness. Rejecting the contemporary tendency to banish death from our thoughts and discourse, she encourages us to embrace its presence as a fundamental part of life.
About the facilitator:
Jim Van Buskirk is a retired librarian (San Francisco Public Library, Jewish Community Library) who currently works as a book group facilitator, writer, editor, public speaker, exhibit curator, and collections manager. He frequently writes articles and/or presents programs related to Jewish, literary, film, and/or queer history. He also leads Death Cafes and other programs encouraging participants to speak openly about death.