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Dedicated mother, loving wife, superlative attorney, generous philanthropist and friend to many, UM Law grad Beth Jarrett has tragically and suddenly passed away.

The words of the opening prayer of the Yizkor service, chanted by Jews under conditions of persecution for many hundreds of years, seem particularly apt to me now.

This translation comes from the rabbis/poets of Spain in the Middle Ages:

Lord, what is Man that You recognize him?
The son of a frail human that you reckon with him?

Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
In the morning it blossoms and is rejuvenated,
by evening it is cut down and brittle.

According to the count of our days, so may You teach us;
that we shall acquire a heart of wisdom.

Safeguard the perfect and watch the upright,
for the destiny of that man is peace.

But God will redeem my soul from the grip of the lower world,
for He will take me, Selah!

My flesh and my heart yearn -
Rock of my heart, and my portion is God, for ever.

Then the dust returns to the ground, as it was,
and the spirit returns to God Who gave it.

Beth, we will miss you.