Ethical wills are precious spiritual documents, windows into the souls of those who write them and are often a treasured part of a family’s history. These legacy letters sum up what you have learned in life and what you want most for and from, your loved ones. This book - a unique combination of what is and how to - offers a step-by-step process to help you prepare an ethical will of your own and provides a wide range of contemporary ethical wills to help you do it. It reveals the ongoing relevance of this traditional Jewish practice for people of all faiths, all backgrounds. The emotional power of the nearly one hundred last letters collected here, written by both famous and ordinary Jewish people, will inspire you to live more fully now and to record your own blessings for the generations to come.
Done right, an ethical will is a gift of love, a way of saying, ‘This is what I found gave me satisfaction and gave my life meaning. It animated my relationship to you and to your mother (or father). May it do the same for you. I send this to you with much love.’ -from the Foreword by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner