Gail Rubin, CT, is the featured speaker at the 2016 Alabama Funeral Directors Association convention at the Marriott Grand Hotel and Spa Resort in Point Clear, Alabama June 19-22. She is presenting two two-hour continuing education sessions and the evening entertainment on June 21. More than 300 people have registered to attend to date.
Here’s a description of the talks Gail will present:
Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film
Yes, there are Jews in Alabama, and there are a growing number of interfaith marriages. This can lead to confusion over what rituals to follow when a death occurs. Funeral directors need to know how to respond to Jewish and blended families with cultural sensitivity. This talk provides an overview of history, rituals and what happens before, during and after a funeral.
Gail Rubin displays Jewish burial garments in her talk.
Jewish traditions regarding death and dying, the funeral, the treatment of the body, burial, mourning, and annual remembrances are very different from Christian practices. This talk illuminates the differences and similarities of these funeral traditions. Scenes from two comedic films from Mexico, My Mexican Shivah and Nora’s Will, as well as American movies This Is Where I Leave You and The Cemetery Club illustrate Jewish funeral, burial and mourning traditions.
The Many Faces of Grief: Mourning in the Movies
Susan Sarandon in Elizabethtown
Funeral directors see different grief reactions every day, but do you understand the differences between an instrumental griever and an intuitive griever? Using Hollywood film clips to illustrate and lighten the conversation, we’ll examine grief reactions through the scholarly work of thanatology, the study of death, dying and bereavement.
We’ll also discuss length of mourning, disenfranchised grief, and how funerals help process grief. Film clips include scenes from The Big Lebowski, Elizabethtown, Walk the Line, Gravity, A Single Man and The Jane Austen Book Club.
Funny Funeral Film Extravaganza
Stick around after the awards dinner on Tuesday for a hilarious collection of comedy television and film clips related to funerals, funeral directors, life and death. The selections will stay under wraps until that evening.
You can still register! Click here to register online.