Who Writes Ethical Wills?
Today, men and women of every age, ethnicity, faith tradition, economic circumstance and education level see the writing of an ethical will as part of their legacy. This according to Ethical Wills & How to Prepare Them, edited by Rabbi Jack Riemer & Dr. Nathaniel Stampfer. The following are examples from the book.
Sam Levenson, beloved and nationally known writer and humorist who died in1980. This is from his Ethical Will and Testament to His Grandchildren and to Children Everywhere.
I leave you my unpaid debts. They are my greatest assets. Everything I own — I owe:
To America I owe a debt for the opportunity it gave me to be free and to be me.
To my parents I owe America. They gave it to me and I leave it to you. Take good care of it.
To the biblical tradition I owe the belief that man does not live by bread alone, nor does he live alone at all. This is also the democratic tradition. Preserve it.
To the six million of my people and to the thirty million other humans who died because of man’s inhumanity to man, I owe a vow that it must never happen again.
I leave you not everything I never had, but everything I had in my lifetime: a good family, respect for learning, compassion for my fellow-man, and some foru-letter words for all occasions: workd like “help,” “give,” “care,” feel,” and “love.”
Love, my dear grandchildren, is easier to recommend than to define. I can tell you only that like those who came before you, you will surely know when love ain’t; you will also know when mercy ain’t and brotherhood aint.
The millennium will come when all the “ain’ts” shall have become “ises” and all the “ises” shall be for all, even for those you don’t like.
Finally, I leave you the years I should like to have lived so that I might possibly see whether your generation will bring more love and peace to the world than ours did. I not only hope you will. I pray that you will.
— Grandpa Sam Levenson
Rose Weiss Baygel who came to Cleveland from Riga as a small child, received little formal education, worked in a sweatshop, walked a picket line in support of the Garment Workers Union. She and her husband raised and educated three children. Her ethical will, “written on plain ordinary tablet paper . . . has spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes, but they don’t really matter: the point gets through.”
My dear children:
I am writing this in the bank. This is what I want from you children: Evalyn, Bernice and Allen to be to one another — good sisters and brother. Daddy and I love the three of you very much, and we did our best raising you and gave you the best education we could afford. Be good to each other. Help one another if “God forbid” in need. This is my wish.
Love all of you,
Your mother.