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Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 2/2012

01-06-2012 | Original Paper

Gerotrancscendence Through Jewish Eyes

Author: Chaya Greenberger

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 2/2012

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Abstract

The Swedish sociologist Tornstam perceives old age as the peak of human maturation whose favorable culmination is gerotranscendence. The latter is characterized by breaking out of one’s finite existence and uniting with a greater world with respect to past, present, and future. Tornstam relates to gerotranscendent roots in Eastern cultures; this study will examine how gerotranscendence finds expression in Jewish sources. Varied Jewish texts speak to how the wisdom that accrues from life experience enables one to rise above physical decline and enrich relationships via self, fellow man, and cosmos. Three major biblical exemplars of gerotranscendors are depicted: Abraham, focusing on limitless giving to fellow man; Isaac, overcoming psychological barriers of past paternal disappointments; and Jacob uniting with his children and grandchildren through the blessing that becomes a legacy for perpetuating the future of the nation. Practical applications of the study for more meaningful aging are discussed.
Footnotes
1
The Talmud is the comprehensive corpus of rabbinic discussion and the analysis of Jewish law, codified around 500 C.E. It is divided into 37 tractates, providing an in-depth analysis of the Mishna and additional material of a narrative (aggadic) nature.
 
2
The Mishna is the corpus of Jewish laws accumulated, compiled, and codified in approximately 200 C.E., organized into 6 “orders”.
 
3
MIdrash is a body of rabbinic literature focused upon interpreting the written scriptures. Major portions of midrash were compiled by the second century C.E. (Midrash aggadah relates to narrative rather than legal exegesis of the text, often relating to moral lessons that may be gleaned from the scriptures.)
 
4
Giant medieval Jewish scholar whose opus magnum was the Yad Hazakah in which he classified and explained the entire legal corpus of the Talmud.
 
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Metadata
Title
Gerotrancscendence Through Jewish Eyes
Author
Chaya Greenberger
Publication date
01-06-2012
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 2/2012
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9590-0

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