Life is a day that lies between two nights — the night of “not yet,” before birth, and the night of “no more,” after death. That day may be overcast with pain and frustration, or bright with warmth and contentment. But, inevitably, the night of death must arrive.

Death is a night that lies between two days — the day of life on earth and the day of eternal life in the world to come. That night may come suddenly, in the blink of an eye, or it may come gradually, with a slowly receding sun.

As the day of life is an interlude, so is the night of death an interlude. As the day inevitably proceeds to dusk, so does the darkness inevitably proceed to dawn.

Each portion — the foetal existence, and life, and death, and eternal life — is separated by a veil which human understanding cannot pierce.

— excerpt from The Jewish Way of Death and Mourning by Maurice Lamm