Vida y muerte

 WHEN LIFE ENTERS ITS FINAL STAGES

If a person is near death, it is forbidden to leave him, so

that he should not die alone. (And it is a mitzuah to stand

by a person at the moment of death.)

-Shulkhan Arukh, Yoruh De'ah 339:4; the comment in

parenthesin in by Rubbi Moses Isscrles (1525 1572).

While most modern Jews do celebrate birthdays, doing so is a

relatively recent practice, one most likely adopted from the Jews'

neighbors. The Bible itself mentions only one birthday, that of Phar-

aoh, a non-Jew (Genesis 40:20).