Mourn
The Afterlife in Judaism: Modern Liturgical Reforms
Amending prayers that mention resurrection to accord with modern sensibilities.
Jewish Resurrection Gets New Life
By the second century at the latest, belief in resurrection had entered Jewish liturgy and legal writing.
Jewish Resurrection and Organ Donation
The misguided belief that one needs all body parts intact to be resurrected may contribute to the poor rate of organ donation--even for Jews with otherwise untraditional beliefs.
How To Form A New Chevra Kadisha
Rebutting objections to forming or joining a burial society--and practical steps on how to do so.
Death and Mourning: Sources from the Babylonian Talmud
On attending to mourners, anticipating dying, accepting death, and appropriate burial rites.
Living Persons and Organ Donation
Sometimes there is a conflict between the mandate to save lives and the mandate to avoid health risks.
Jewish Views on Organ Donation
Jewish views on organ donation are overridden by a single halakhic (legal) concept: pikuach nefesh—the Jewish obligation to save lives.
Ultra-Orthodoxy and Organ Donation
After learning the results of an experiment involving a decapitated sheep, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach decided to permit organ donations.
Themes in Death and Mourning
Though traditional sources on the laws of mourning are quite detailed and specific, an acquaintance with this legal literature reveals a number of overarching themes and principles.
A Yizkor prayer for stillborn and infant deaths
A contemporary rabbi offers a prayer to be recited throughout the year by parents who have suffered neonatal loss.