By Sarit Wishnevski
As the days shorten and darkness settles in a little earlier each evening, we enter a season that asks us to pay attention. This Friday marks the beginning of the month of Kislev, a time characterized by long nights and increasing, persistent lights. It feels like exactly the right moment to talk about something we don’t often name directly in Jewish life: bravery.
Resilience is familiar to us. Jewish communities know how to endure, rebuild, and adapt. But bravery comes before resilience. It’s the moment we choose to turn toward what worries us instead of away from it. It’s the decision to stay present even when something feels hard.
Every night, as the world outside gets darker, we say Hashkiveinu. The prayer opens with a simple request: “Hashkiveinu Adonai Eloheinu l’shalom”, “Help us lie down in peace.” Embedded in those words is an honest truth: nighttime can stir our anxieties. Uncertainty can shake us. And so our tradition gives us language to name that, rather than pretend it isn’t there.
Hashkiveinu doesn’t ask us to be fearless. It asks us to be real. It teaches us that acknowledging what scares us is not a weakness but rather a step toward courage.
This is the kind of bravery I see every day in my work with Kavod v’Nichum, the organization I lead, which supports Chevra Kadisha groups across North America. A Chevra Kadisha, literally “holy society,” is a group of volunteers who care for the deceased and comfort the living through Jewish rituals, including taharah, the sacred preparation of the body for burial.
These volunteers walk into some of the most tender and challenging moments in Jewish life. They choose to do work that many people avoid because it feels frightening or overwhelming. They step forward anyway…not because they are without fear, but because they understand the dignity and compassion at the heart of this mitzvah.
When a community has a Chevra Kadisha, something shifts. People know they will not be left alone. They know their final moments will be met with care, presence, and respect. And that knowledge strengthens the living too, because when we trust we will be held at the end, we move through the present moments with a little more steadiness.
As Kislev arrives, I’m thinking about the kind of bravery our tradition asks of us. Not dramatic gestures, but honest presence. The kind that lets us face hard things one step at a time. The kind that grows from being part of a community that shows up for one another.
In these lengthening nights, may you feel supported, steady, and connected. And may we keep practicing the kind of everyday bravery that helps us face what’s hard and care for one another along the way.
Sarit is the Executive Director of Kavod v’Nichum, a member of the Chevra Kadisha at Congregation Beth El in South Orange, NJ, and a trained end-of-life doula. She will be Scholar-in-Residence this Shabbat at Temple Beth Tzedek.
