Mindflex- Footprints of the Afterlife- Robin Meyerson

My name is Robin Myerson and I'm happy to be sharing this presentation with Project Inspire. I'm actually a volunteer with an organization called the National Association of Hevra Kadisha, which is the burial society. And I've been a volunteer with them for probably about 15 years. And I'm going to be sharing with you some amazing miracle stories about the afterlife. But this is not something that I thought I'd be doing years and years ago. I just want to step back for a few minutes and tell you kind of how I got into this in the first place. So, growing up, I never really talked about death or the afterlife. You know, I have this faint memory when I was about 10 years old and I was eating dinner, eating my rice and peas and my dad said to me, you know, Grandma Gert had died. But that was about it. My mom had to go away for a few days to take care of things. Then a few years later, my grandfather passed away and my dad said mom had to go away for a few days. But that was about it. Never really thought about death, never thought about the afterlife. That was about it. And then in my mid-20s, my other grandmother passed away and that was the first time I ever actually went to a funeral. And it was a Jewish funeral in Los Angeles. And um it was very meaningful, very special and all the all my aunts and uncles spoke at the funeral and that was my first taste of it. That was it. Fast forward, now we get to the juicy part where I can share some afterlife miracle stories with you. I was in my uh mid-30s and uh I had started to learn more about my my Jewish heritage and starting to keep more mitzvahs and learn more things and I was with a rebbetzin friend of mine and she said, "Hey, you want to help me do a mitzvah?" And I'm like, "Sure." Got in the car and said, "What are we going to do?" And she said, "Well, I'm actually in an organization called the burial society and we need a fourth person. Can you come with me?" I'm like, "Okay, but what does that mean?" So, I went down with her to Sinai Memorial Cemetery and I was part of a team of four ladies and we did something called a taharah. And I had no clue what I was getting into. But I thought, you know, I studied biology in college and for kicks one time with a bunch of friends, we went down to the to the morgue for the medical students. So, I kind of had seen a little bit of that before. But I'd never been a part of the Jewish ritual of a taharah, which is burying people, preparing them to be buried. And I have to tell you, it was my first taste of the afterlife and how incredible it is and how real it really is. Let me just tell you what happened in that room for my first experience. I was in the room and women take care of women and men take care of men. And there was no talking. There was just some prayers that were being said said and um the the lady who had passed away was being gently washed and then gently dressed and then placed in the aron, the box, the coffin and then some more prayers were said and we asked forgiveness for anything we had possibly done wrong and it was the most holy and most beautiful experience I'd been a part of. I really, really could feel the difference between life and death being in that room because the person themselves, she she was very um graceful and yet there was this sense of like the soul hovering around her and that's why we were being very um respectful to her and everything was very modest. That was my first taste of it and I got hooked because it was such a beautiful experience. After that, I got involved with helping people choose burial and people would come to me and ask for assistance in various situations. And I told my mom and dad what I had been through and they were really impressed. They're like, "You did what? You did a taharah? You helped with a Jewish burial?" They were a little freaked out, too, because they also had no idea about these Jewish customs, either. So, after seeing death up close and helping people be buried, I collected a lot of really cool stories about the afterlife because you can really see the soul in the living people because it's not there when you've passed away. So, it's incredibly inspiring to see beyond this world and it totally inspires me to make the most of what I can in this world. So, now I'm going to share with you some miracle stories from the trenches because I'm in the trenches almost every day. At least twice a week, I'm helping people get buried or choose burial over cremation. And after all, that's why you came here to listen to this presentation. Some of the stories I'm going to share with you are cute. Some of them are a little spooky. Some of them are absolutely out of this world. And some of the stories are really profound and have an amazing message. But all of the stories are 100% real and true. You know, sometimes in our fast-paced world of technology and work, we tend to forget that we have a soul. You know, we with our bodies and our minds, we're working so fast and we forget that we have a soul and our soul is eternal. Our soul lives forever, but our body dies. So, these amazing stories will hopefully help us realize that we need to slow down, we need to recognize that there's deeper meanings to life and that there are very many miracles that can happen in the next world and that we can also maintain a relationship with our departed loved ones after they've passed away. These stories also should hopefully share with you that we need to pay great respect to the body that housed our soul for all the years that we lived and in order for the soul to be at rest and have a good journey to that afterlife that lasts for eternity, it needs to be buried. The body needs to be buried to allow the soul to return back to God. So, these stories kind of show a little glimpse into the veil of the afterlife as all the miracles kind of unfold. So, let's warm up with a little light story, okay? So, this story is called My Mother-in-law Watching Out for Us on her yahrzeit. Yahrzeit means the anniversary of her death. Before I tell you the story, I'm going to share with you a little quote. The quote is, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but rather we are spiritual beings having a physical experience." So, now that we tell you the story. This story happened about um eight years ago, seven or eight years ago. I had decided I had just had another child and I decided that I had been working for many years and also raising my kids and I decided I kind of wanted to take a break from working for a bit and just focus on raising my kids. And so then I had to look at the budget, right? So, I thought, "Where can I Where can I cut expenses? Where can I reduce my my my budget a little bit so that I can make ends meet cuz I wasn't going to be working for about a couple years or so." And so, I thought, "Let's see if we can refinance the house cuz that's one of the biggest expenses on the budget um in addition to the school tuition and camps and food and everything else." So, I got contacted our bank and they said, "Well, you know, you can refinance, but you're going to have to do an appraisal because we have to see what the value of your house is worth." So, I got all the kids involved and my husband involved and we were cleaning up the house, decluttering, trying to make the house look great to pay for this appraisal to make the house really show well because there had been one other house that had sold recently um and we needed we needed to be up there in price. And so, I was scheduling the appraisal with the man who was going to come to the house and we looked at the date and he said, "I can come on the 9th of Tevet," which is a Hebrew date and that actually turned out to be the the yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death of my mother-in-law. I thought, "You know what? This is going to be okay." And let me tell you why. My mother-in-law was a real estate broker. But not only was she a real estate broker, but she just loved talking to people about her kids. She would tell anybody in the grocery store, at the post office, anywhere at all, how great her son was and how great her daughter-in-law was and she would just talk up a storm. So, I I imagined when the appraiser came to our house and I lit the candle, my husband lit the candle, the yahrzeit candle, which is a customary thing to do that I imagined that when the appraiser came over that the soul of my mother-in-law would be chasing him around the house saying, "You better give them a good appraisal because they deserve it." Fast forward, he came to the door and we had worked to clean up that house our house for like probably five or six days straight and he came over and he was in and out of our house in 25 minutes. I couldn't believe it. All that work and he was in and out in 25 minutes. So, we were waiting on pins and needles to find out what the result was. And guess what? Yes, we got a great appraisal. We were able to refinance the house and I know because it was because of my mother-in-law being her yard site on the day that we had our appraisal. Now, that's just a light story. But, it just goes to show that there is a way that we can maintain a connection between our loved ones and us in this world and the next world. We can do good deeds for them like lighting a candle, praying for them, or or giving charity in their merit. And they know what's going on down here, too. You might not believe it, but you might want to try it out. It worked for us. Now, the next story I'm going to share with you is really wild. This story is called the $25 million burial. Yes, the $25 million burial. The reason I want to share this story with you is that you get a really good afterlife with burial. It's absolutely priceless, okay? Don't worry about the money if when you have to pay for a burial. Just don't worry about it. I'm telling you afterlife is worth it and it's priceless. So, let me tell you the story. This is how it goes. There were two men who a father and a son who survived the Holocaust, but neither one of them knew that they had both survived. The the father went to South America to rebuild his life. He thought his whole family had died. And the son went to Israel to start his life. And the son grew up saying the Kaddish prayer for his father all those years because he thought his father had died. Kaddish prayer is a special prayer that we say on the anniversary of someone passing away. So, many, many years go by. The father in South America rebuilds his life. He marries another woman. He has a whole another family. And fast forward many, many years, he gets sick and he's about to He's very sick and he's going to pass away. And he says to his his son, he says, "I want you to try and see if you can find my other family. You know I'm Jewish and I had another family and I don't know if they all perished, but is there any way that you can do some research?" And so, the the the second son the the Catholic son from South America basically says, "Okay, I will do whatever research I can, Dad, to see if I can find your other your other son." So, he does the research. And nowadays, you know, there's databases and genealogy. And he was actually able to find his half brother. He makes a phone call. Calls his half brother. His half brother answers the phone. And he says, "This is so-and-so. I'm calling to let you know I'm your half brother and your your father is alive, but he's very sick and you have to come to South America very quickly." Can you imagine the shock of this guy? This man, he gets this phone call. He thinks after all these years that his father had passed away. And now he hears that he's alive. He's so excited. He's so excited. He He books a ticket, goes to the airport, goes to South America. He's met at the airport by his half brother. And his half brother says, "I'm so sorry. You're too late. Our father has died." The man is devastated. Again, he can't believe it. He can't believe that he lost his father twice now. So, he says to his half brother, "Oh my gosh. When's the burial going to be? You know, I have to make the arrangements." And his half brother said, "Don't worry. I've already made the arrangements. There's going to be a viewing. I've got it all set up at the Catholic church. And then we're going to have a horse-drawn carriage carrying his his coffin. And then we're going to do a cremation." And the half brother from Israel said, "What? No. My father's Jewish. We have to do a burial." And the other brother said, "But no. We're doing everything I already said. I already arranged it all." So, can you imagine they're just in shock both of them at meeting each other? And this is the situation. So, the brother from Israel calls his rabbi and says, "What should I do?" And he says, "Call a lawyer." So, he calls a lawyer and says, "What should I do?" He says, "You need to You need to work this out with your brother and you need to get him buried." Fast forward, they end up in front of a judge. The judge can't believe that this is the case of two brothers who are fighting over how to take care of their their deceased father. And the judge says, "Just do the cremation. What are you talking about?" And the brother from Israel says, "How much is my inheritance?" And the other brother says, "Well, our father was very successful in business and the whole estate is $50 million." "You're set to get $25 million." Brother from Israel said, "You can keep my inheritance. Just let me have my father. Let me bury him in Israel." The other brother couldn't believe it. Said, "Sure. Go ahead." So, the brother from Israel was able to bury his father for $25 million. It's a true story and it just goes to show that burial is absolutely priceless. Now, I'm going to share with you a little spooky story. This happened to me personally. This was a case that I had to take care of a few years ago. There was a person who had passed away from a gunshot. And in our Jewish tradition, it's very important to bury all the parts of the person, everything. You know, if there's an accident, a car accident, or a terrorist attack, God forbid. We take care of the whole situation. There are volunteer organizations to go to a crime scene. They do everything possible to collect the blood and the body parts and bury every single part of that person because we believe in our Jewish faith that you got to bury the whole person, all the parts. So, here's a spooky story. This is what it's called. It's called the angel escort. So, there's a Tehillim there's a there's a phrase in Psalms, Psalm 91, that says, "He will charge his angels to protect you in all your ways." So, this is kind of personal, but I want to share it anyway. I had to go to the crime scene. And I had to take pictures because I had to see if it was necessary to call in an outside organization to come in because when there's a gunshot wound, there could be it could be messy. And if it's minor, I could just take care of it. Not a big deal. But if it's a big deal, then I needed to come get another organization to come help me. So, I went to the to the scene. I went to the accident. It was in a home. And I had my booties on and my apron on and my mat, you know, like whole garb to keep me safe. But, what was more important was the night before I had been to what's called the mikvah, which is a ritual bath, which is what you do when you're married. And I had gone to the mikvah and I know that there's there's this it's kind of a spooky thing that the next day you're you are escorted by hundreds and hundreds of angels. So, I knew that on this afternoon when I had to go to this house and check out the scene of the accident that I would be escorted by angels. So, truthfully, I wasn't so scared. Partially, my heart was kind of like pounding outside of my chest, but I had my husband on the cell phone as I opened the door and I went into the crime scene. And I saw what I saw and it wasn't so terrible. And I didn't have to call the outside organization. And we were able to collect all the necessary body parts so that we could give this person a proper Jewish burial. Okay, after that story, I'm going to share with you a light one. This one is called plotting a future marriage. Now, there's a custom of placing stones on a gravestone on a grave grave site when you go to the cemetery. And the purpose of this stone is to honor the deceased by marking the fact that you were visiting. And a cemetery is actually called a base hayim, which means the land of the living. And a few years ago, I needed to go to New York and my husband's mother is buried in the New York, New Jersey area. So, he thought since we're going on this trip anyway, let's stop by the cemetery. So, I mentioned happened to be mentioning it to my mom that we're going to Brooklyn in the New York, New Jersey area and we're going to go to the cemetery. And she said, "Really? I think that my grandparents are buried in that same cemetery." And I said, "Really? This That's so random. There's so many cemeteries across, you know, that whole area." And so, anyway, we went to the cemetery and we parked the car. And as my husband's getting ready to go visit the grave site of his mom, I went into the cemetery office and I asked them, "Do you happen to have any records of Sadie and Solomon Markowitz being buried at this cemetery?" This was like a long time ago. This was probably in the 19 um 40s or 50s. So, not so long, but pretty long ago. So, anyway, they looked up their records and they actually did find the records of Sadie and Solomon Markowitz. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, my mom was right." So, we make our way over to where my mother-in-law's buried and my husband tucks in tucks in his his his uh the what he was wearing because that's something very modest that you need to do and respectful when you go to a cemetery. And he visits his mom's gravesite and he's praying and he's crying and he's just telling her all about our family and all the good things that are going on in our life. And when he's done and he sort of composes himself, I say, "You know, do you do you have the energy? Do you have the strength? Can we look around for my mom's mother-in-law my mom's parents grandparents because it's probably been I don't know 50 60 years since anybody visited their gravesites?" So, my husband said, "Sure." And we I gave him the the piece of paper that had the the location of the gravesite and he goes, "Oh, this is right around here." I'm like, "Really? I mean, the cemetery is huge. It's actually huge." He goes, "Yeah, it's right around here." So, we look at the map and we literally turn around and walk like 20 steps. And there in front of our eyes was not only my mother's grandparents on her maternal side, but my mother's grandparents on the paternal side. So, paternal and maternal. So, the whole family of my mother's family was like 20 ft away from my husband's whole family. My my husband's grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and my my my mother's aunts and uncles and grandparents. The whole family the whole mishpacha. They're all buried like 20 ft away from each other. Now, that is really strange. And and then I realized, "Oh my gosh, all these people must have been standing at these gravesites all over all these years." And some of the them were buried in the early 1900s. And and I said to my husband, "You know, the I think that they were secretly plotting to be the matchmakers in heaven for us because it was just too incredible that our two families would be matched up and we would be visiting the cemetery all these years later and both families would be there. So, our families are neighbors in death. They're they're neighbors in the afterlife." One of the reasons I wanted to share with you that story about plotting a future marriage is that, you know, it's so special to have a place to go visit even if you think you're never going to go visit. Generations later people will go visit. They'll show respect even 150 years later or who knows how many years later. So, it was just really fun for our family to know that our ancestors are buried near each other. Now, this next story I'm going to share with you from the trenches is a story of a man who very very smart man, PhD, scientist, professor at a very prestigious secular university. And he had no children. And he was pre- his uh wife died before him. And so, he decided he was going to be cremated. And he asked his niece and nephew if they would assist with that. Now, his niece and nephew they didn't want to do that. They wanted to do a burial because that's what they that's really what they wanted to do. And I they asked me for some help and I said, "Why don't you give a book to your uncle because he's such a scientific person. He's he's so educated. He really likes to learn and read." So, I suggested a book called uh Burial or Cremation, A Jewish View, which is by Doron Kornbluth. And I helped the book get published. I wrote the forward and the ending of the book. And I gave the book to this niece and nephew and I said, "Read the book and then give it over to your uncle and see if he'll change his mind because he's just such a very studious person." And I said to them, "You know, there's no contradiction between science and the afterlife. You can be really scientific and you can also believe in the afterlife. And burial's burial's what gets you a really good afterlife. There's no contradiction at all." So, I gave the book to uh my friends and they read it and they gave their book to their uncle. And the uncle was very serious about it. He read it over and he appreciated very much their intentions. But he decided, "You know what? I read the book, but I'm going to stick to my original plans." So, they were devastated. And they asked me for some more help. I said, "What should we do now? He's he's read the book. He's weighed out the pros and cons and he still decided that's what he wants to do." So, I said, "Go back and look at the book. In the very end of the book, there's a letter. It's a dear dad letter. Um I actually wrote the letter. And it's dear dad, I love you so much. I can't bear it the thought of you being cremated. Could you please choose burial? I remember how you played with me in the swimming pool and you hugged me and you used to like cuddle with me on the couch when I was 2 years old and 3 years old. Please please can you choose burial? I want you to write a letter to your uncle a heartfelt letter and tell him how much you love him and how much you this means to you." And so, they decided they would do that. So, they wrote a letter to their uncle who was over 100 years old. And this is what did it. This letter opened up his heart. And he decided, "You know what? I may might not be right. I might be right. Who knows scientifically what's best, but I'm going to go with this heartfelt letter and I want to choose burial for my niece and nephew." So, at 100 I think it was 103 he had a proper Jewish burial. Cuz there's no contradiction between science and burial. This next story I'm going to tell you is called the reserved reserved parking. And this is a miracle story that has to do with money, but not $25 million like the previous story. This is an $1,800 miracle. So, the reward for attending a funeral is really limitless. That comes from the source of that is from the Talmud in Sota. And I got a call one day from a woman in Israel who her aunt had passed away in America. And she wanted to help her aunt have a proper Jewish burial. And but she was in she was in Israel. So, it was very hard for her with the time zone and everything else and she was trying to reach all the cousins and everybody in Arizona. And nobody wanted to have anything to do with this. They didn't want to take care of this. They didn't want to bury their aunt. They just they didn't want to take responsibility. So, basically, this aunt was abandoned. Nobody wanted to take care of her. We I asked the caregiver if they could look in her house to see if they could find a will. So, the caregiver who looked through the her materials actually found a will. And in the will, it named a distant cousin in another state to be in charge. So, they had contact information and we contacted the the person and we asked them. He said, "You know, this is your responsibility. You're named in the will to bury this relative." And he wrote back in the email saying, "I don't want to have anything to do with this. I really don't want to have anything to do with this. I I abdicate my responsibility." Now, that's a good thing. Let me tell you why because the niece in Israel wanted to bury um wanted to bury her aunt. The rest of the family didn't like her. And it was very complicated. So, but a Jew is a Jew is a Jew and you need to do a Jewish burial. So, all we needed was $1,800 because she was basically abandoned and there's an organization in New York called the Hebrew Free Burial Association. And if someone is abandoned or someone is indigent or someone's homeless, you know, they take care of that person and they give them a proper respect that they deserve to have a burial. So, I said, "You know what? That's what we're going to do for your aunt. We're going to have her have a proper burial in New York for free." The only cost we have is we have to pay for her shipping basically over to New York and that's going to be about $1,800. They thought, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to get $1,800?" I happen to had to go pick up my son from pre- preschool at exactly that time. So, I'm in the car making a million phone calls trying to raise the money. And I get out of the car and I'm picking up my son. And I'm kind of distracted, right? I'm on the phone trying to pick him up, dropping his lunchbox, dropping his coat. It's just like kind of discombobulated. And Rabbi Brisky is behind me in carpool. He gets out of the car and he says, "Robin, are you usually like, you know, wringing your hands in the parking lot while you're picking up your son?" And I said, "You just won't believe what's going on. I have this case. This lady's been abandoned. Nobody wants to take care of her. I need to get her buried. I need to fly her to New York. I need $1,800." And he said, "Oh my gosh, you're not going to believe it. I just got off the phone with a man who said he wanted to make a donation to have someone buried." I said, "What? Are you kidding me?" He said, "Yes, I just got off the phone with him." So, right there in the parking lot, He calls up the man while I'm standing there and he says, "You're not going to believe it. I'm with a woman in a parking lot who's trying to bury the this lady who's abandoned and she needs $1,800." He says, "I'll write the check. Where do you want me to make it out to?" So, right there on the spot he writes out the check. I'm standing there in the parking lot. He's on the phone. And Rabbi Brisky says, "You can come pick up the check in in about an hour." So, I put my son in the car seat and drove away to go pick up that check. And as I'm driving, like tears are streaming down my eye my face because I realized what a miracle. Just when I needed that $1,800 Rabbi Brisky's right behind me in carpool and that miracle happened for real. This next story that I'm going to tell you is a little spooky, but has a good ending. It has to do with a science lab. A lot of people think that they'd like to do um a great deed and give their body over to science. So, that is a nice thing to do. We do need medical research, but let me just tell you, there are thousands of bodies that are donated for medical reasons. Thousands and thousands, way more than is needed. So, the Jewish people don't really need to do that. So, when someone's alive, you can certainly donate a kidney, certainly donate bone marrow, you know, whatever you need to do to help someone, but um we don't we don't do that. It's not something that we do. We don't donate our whole body to science and I'll tell you why. Um like I mentioned at the very, very beginning of the presentation and how I've been involved with the Tahara, which is preparing someone for burial. It's so modest, it's so respectful, it's so caring, it's so loving, so gentle. And a opposite of that is donating your body to science where your body is on full display, chopped up into pieces, whatever, and unfortunately, that's just what has to be done. And then at the end of the 6 months or a year of being used for medical science, it's usually cremated. Um sometimes it's buried, but pieces and parts. So, it's just not respectful to the way we like to do things. So, there was a man who his father was in his 90s and his father wanted to donate his body to science. And at first um Tuvia was, you know, thought it was fine. But then as he started to look into it, he realized he didn't want his dad to do this. So, he tried to have a conversation with his dad and he called me up and he asked for help. And I said to him, "These are some things that you can say. You know, these are some books you could read, here's some brochures, check out the website, see if you can convince your dad." Tuvia tried for probably 2 years to change his dad's mind. His dad didn't change his mind. So, he had to finally come to the conclusion that even though he tried, he tried praying, he tried convincing his dad, his just dad wouldn't change his mind. Fast forward, I happened to go on a trip to Israel and I happened to be at the Kotel, the Western Wall, and I have a list of people that I pray for and I was praying for Tuvia's dad to have a proper Jewish burial. And a few days later I get a phone call from Tuvia and he said, "I've been trying to reach you. My father died. His body was taken to a science lab, but we got him out." I'm like, "What are you talking about?" Turns out that when his father died, they followed what they thought were his instructions and sent him to a lab. But it wasn't in his will. When Tuvia asked his sister to see a copy of the will, it wasn't written in the will that he wanted to donate his body to science at all. He had just kind of like thought that that's what he'd wanted to do and it wasn't in the will. So, they didn't have to do it and his sister was really agreeable and they actually went and rescued his body out. And so, after 2 years of trying and begging and praying and getting people to learn and study, they were able to get his father's body out after about a week and they were able to give him a proper Jewish burial. So, it's really shows the power of persistence, shows the power that if that's really what you want to do, you can really do your best and just try. That's where you're going to make your best effort. Um This last or no, there's two more stories I'm going to share with you. Um This story is called well, it doesn't have a name because it just happened. So, I haven't given it a name yet, but I'm going to tell you this story. There was a man and his father had he was in Israel and his father had died in America and um he called me for help. He wanted to bring his father to Israel to be buried. And he called his stepmother and his stepmother said, "Nope, we're going to do a cremation in America." And he tried calling his stepmother over and over again, she was ignoring his calls and finally he said, "What can I do?" And I said, "Look, we're going to see if we can get an attorney to see if that could help." So, we got an attorney and I called so many different attorneys and the first one who answered the phone said, "Sure, I'll absolutely help you, no charge." And he wrote a letter and it was just a very simple letter just saying that we we want to bury um this his father in Israel. And so, the stepmother said, "Fine, you can take him." And so, he was already in the crematorium and we took him out and we he but it took a few days and then he was shipped to Israel. So, the point of this story, this real story, is that even if you make the decision, you can change your mind as long as you do it pretty quickly and and if you get some help from outside people who have some ideas on how to help you. If you think you want to do this cremation, you can change your mind. You can get your money back, you can apply it to a burial. The government in different states is different. Every country and every state does it a little differently, but it doesn't happen so quickly. It's not like boom, you take the body and it's cremated in 24 hours. It can take weeks sometimes. So, and I'll tell you this one last story because it really shows the power of persistence and it shows the power of prayer and the power of giving charity. So, this last story is very personal and it's why I got involved with telling stories, writing books, making brochures and websites to tell people the importance of the afterlife and how real it really is. So, this story is called The Last Mitzvah. So, about 10 years ago, I happened to be calling one of my aunts on the telephone. She lives in Las Vegas and I called her just to say, "Hi, how are you doing?" And she said, "Are you calling because you heard the news?" And I said, "What news?" She said, "Are you Uncle Arnold died this morning." I'm like, "What? I had no idea. I just called to say hi." And I said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. When's the funeral going to be?" And she said, "There isn't going to be one." I said, "What do you mean there's not going to be a funeral?" And she said, "Well, we're not religious like you guys, we're going to do a cremation." I'm like, "Oh no, you can't do that. You got to bury my uncle." So, but I was so much in shock and so was she and so I couldn't argue with her. So, I called my cousins and everybody's crying. Nobody knows what to do. And my uncle's picked up and he's taken to the morgue and he's in there for 2 weeks. So, the first miracle that happened was that it didn't happen so fast. Like I said, I didn't know, but it it takes it could take a weeks and weeks. Just depends how many bodies there are. And in Las Vegas, um unfortunately, it's about 75% of Jewish people are choosing to be cremated, so the the wait is pretty long. So, the first miracle was he wasn't touched. The second miracle was that they didn't cut out his um artificial knees and hips and stuff like that because usually that's what they do in the crematoriums is they cut out the artificial parts because it ruins the machines. But we don't do that. We don't do that in our in our Jewish traditions. So, that was the second miracle that they didn't do that. I kept calling my cousins. I'm like and I said, "You know, you got to do a burial." And they didn't know what to do. Everybody's crying. They called the the cemetery and I called the more Jewish mortuary and gave my credit card. I said, "Just be on call in case they change their mind." But I had no power because I was a I'm a niece. So, I kept calling, not getting anywhere. Um Finally, I decided I'm going to give some sedaka. I'm going to give some charity to an organization to study for my uncle's soul because when someone dies, the soul leaves the body, but it doesn't leave complete like it doesn't go on its journey to the afterlife until it's buried. And this was in that 2-week part period and soul hadn't left on its journey to God because it hadn't been buried yet. So, it was just kind of like hovering around. So, the soul's a little is in distress because it hasn't been buried yet. So, I called this organization. I told them the situation. I said, "I'm going to give you some charity dollars. Can you please study for my uncle's soul?" And so, they traditionally study this thing called Mishnayos and if you rearrange the letters of Mishnayos, you get Neshama and Neshama means soul. Now, I didn't tell my cousins that I had paid some charity dollars to do this, but I was like desperate. I really needed something out of this world to help my uncle get a burial. And so, I gave the money and that was on a Tuesday morning. Tuesday night, my cousin has a dream. And in that dream, her father comes to her and says, "Get me out of here." I didn't find that out till the day of the funeral because that's what changed her mind. So, I flew into Las Vegas and at the at the cemetery, my aunt Myra comes up to me and she hugs me and she says, "Robin, this is your calling. God is going to repay you." I'm like, "Whoa, that's such a weird thing to say at a cemetery at a funeral." It's like so weird. And then they were hungry and we decided to go out for eat to eat at a kosher restaurant after the cemetery after the funeral. And while we were at the restaurant, I said to my cousin Valerie, "What changed your mind?" I said I was calling you for weeks. What changed your mind?" And she said, "Well, I had this dream. My dad came to me in a dream." I'm like, "Whoa, really? When was that?" She goes, "Well, it was like last Tuesday night." I'm like, "What do you mean? Which Tuesday?" I'm like, "Last Tuesday?" I'm like, "Tuesday night?" And I told her that I had given some charity dollars to study for her father's soul. So, she starts crying and then I start crying. We're both crying in the restaurant. We totally look like a sight because we realized the magnitude of the connection that we had that I gave tzedakah, charity, for her father's soul. Her father showed up in a dream of hers telling her to get her get him out of the cem- out of the crematorium. But, the story gets to me a little bit more spooky after that. Really good ending. So, remember what my aunt said? She said that God was going to repay me and it was like such a weird thing to say at the cemetery. So, fast forward a couple of months later, uh I was getting ready for a summer trip and we were going to drive up to Denver because even though my aunt and uncle live in Las Vegas, my cousins lived in Denver. And we were trying to get out of the Arizona heat. And we're about to get in the car and I'm like, "I'm not feeling so good." And so, I decided to take a pregnancy test. I'm like, "I'm 44 years old. I can't be pregnant." I take this test. It turns out it's pink. I'm pregnant. I tell my husband, he's jumping for joy. I'm like freaking out. Like, "Oh my god, I'm going to have a baby at 45? My last child was was like going to be six and it would have been like a five to six year gap." So, I decided, "Oh my gosh." And then all of a sudden, I start counting on my hand, you know, like when I'm going to be due. And I realize I'm due in March near the first yahrzeit anniversary of my Uncle Arnold's death. And it whooshed through my mind what my aunt Myra had said at the cemetery. "This is your calling. God is going to repay you." I'm like, "Whoa. Oh my gosh." Fast forward, go to the doctor and get a check. Everything's fine. Fast forward a couple more months. Go to an ultrasound. Find out it's a little boy. I call my cousins from the ultrasound room and I tell them I'm going to have a little boy and I'm going to name him after your father. They were just so thrilled. Fast forward a couple more months. Supposed to have this baby and he's not coming out. And the doctor says to me, "Robin, you better have this baby otherwise we're going to have to induce." I had already had four children and I was not about to be induced. But, I remember it'd been like a six year gap. It's kind of like having your first baby. So, I said, "Don't touch me. I don't want to be induced." Now, remember my Uncle Arnold, he was in the crematorium for two weeks. Well, I was two weeks late. And I went to the hospital exactly on the one year anniversary of my Uncle Arnold dying. So, my baby boy was born on his anniversary and so we named him Ezriel Mordechai. My Shushan Purim miracle baby boy born on my Uncle Arnold's yahrzeit. Now, if that doesn't make you believe in the afterlife, I don't know what will make you believe in the afterlife. It's real. It's just something we can't see. We can't touch it. We can't taste it, but it's real. The soul lives forever and we can maintain a relationship with our departed loved ones by doing mitzvahs in their merit. But, don't just believe me. Do your own research. You can check out my website peacefulreturn.com. You can look at the videos on the website. You can read the articles, talk to friends and family. You can call me. My cell phone is 602 1606. You can even email me [email protected]. I've written a book. This is the book of all the miracle stories. You can read it. I'll send you a free copy. I'll send you a free copy. You can get it, give it to a loved one. These are all the miracle stories and many, many more miracle stories. Just to give you a taste of it. I remember I told you at the beginning of this presentation that as a kid, you know, I just really didn't know anything about it. Like, why would I know anything about the afterlife? But, I also I also wrote a book with Bracha Goetz and it's called I Lost Someone Special. And this book just teaches kids all about all the wonderful things that we can do for our loved ones. And it's beautifully illustrated and it's been reviewed by psychologists. And it's so important to talk to your friends and family about the afterlife and your children because it is real. There's nothing to be scared about. Just like you go from being a baby to a toddler to a teenager, you go to the afterlife when you pass away. So, don't be afraid. Have the conversation. Call me anytime. Send me an email. Check out the website. I'm here for you to have that conversation. Thank you.