Rosewater Taharah is an anthology about Jewish Herbalism at End of Life, Death, Grief, and Memorial co-created by over 20 death care workers, chevra kadisha members, spiritual leaders, rabbis, herbalists, artists, poets, researchers and designers.

The rich Jewish relationship to death is a tapestry that many of us feel both deeply tied to and also estranged from. When a loved one dies and we participate in the modern death industry, many of us feel disoriented around what to do, and a gaping hole where rich ritual and stories once existed. Cultural practices around death and grief are foundational for continuing our relationships with our loved ones, for holding onto ourselves, and for healing.

Still, we dream of our ancestors and we feel them around us, whispering wisdom. We feel them in our relationships. As we listen with sensitivity, we touch the plants, we smell them, we dig our hands into the earth, and we feel the ocean and the rain. Our ancestors and loved ones are there, entwined in all life around us.

This book is a project of reclamation. By sharing stories and experiences with tenderness and care, we are gently offering each other an opening to seek, recognize, and re-root ourselves and our traditions. As we remind each other of the multitudes of oral histories, texts, and written records held in many different languages, we may feel like we are salvaging fragments of ourselves. This project intends to remind us, if we haven’t already been reminded, that we are not isolated, and to hold feelings of isolation in a warm home. We come together across the pages of Rosewater Taharah to reclaim and build upon our rich legacies of earth-centered cultural practice for ourselves, for our ancestors, and for future generations. Our rich traditions of care work are there and always have been there for all of us to shape and care for together.

This book is a story of stories, guided by our hearts. It has poetry, research, art, stories, recipes and rituals, informed by our ancestral and embodied knowledge from intuition, folklore, dreams, literature, and research.

Writing Rosewater Taharah has been our grief tea and we hope it can be yours.

Fundraising Goals

$5,400 would cover the essential costs of publishing the anthology. This includes a copy of the book for all contributors.

Our goal is to raise $8,000 to cover the essential costs of publishing the anthology as well as limited compensation for layout and design, illustration, editing, final research, and an accountant.

Our stretch goal for the project is $25,000, which would cover the entire cost of developing the anthology, not just publishing. This fundraising goal includes compensating our contributors, researchers, and curator, as well as funding for design and illustration, marketing support, and an accountant. Many people have donated time and care to this project, and we hope to fund raise to meet this longer term goal.

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Project team: This is a non-comprehensive list (about half) of the folks who have contributed to this anthology. Rosewater Taharah has been a deeply collective effort, both directly and influentially.

Curator Syl // שפרה מלכה

Illustrator Sunny Nestler // זוניק נעסטעל

Designer Haley Anderson

Fundraising Support Sarah Chudnovsky

Selection of Contributors

Rabbi Janet Madden

Dr. alix lutnik

RC Collman

Katherine Smith

Zoë Francesca Goldblatt

Hannah Yerington

Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer

Dorothy Bishop

Em Berkey

Rabbi Hayley Goldstein

angelic

Rochelle Rubinstein

Benjamin LeVine Nahar & Rabbi Jay LeVine