death

How to Plan a Jewish Funeral

A practical guide to preparations for Jewish burial and mourning.

Liberating Life

The High Holidays focus on death so that we may renew our lives.

Confronting Death, Finding Renewal

The emphatic message of the High Holidays: Change is possible.

Sephardic Customs During Shiva

A number of Sephardic shiva customs involve individual and communal study.

The Mourner During Aninut

The earliest phase of mourning, aninut, which occurs between death and burial, applies to immediate family members.

Development and History of Kaddish

The Kaddish originated as an expression of praise to God following a learned discourse.

Special Issues in Mourning

The Jewish tradition explains how converts are to mourn, whether a wedding should be postponed and the kohen's delimited relationship to the dead.

Role of the Shiva Minyan

The daily prayer services in the mourner's home offer community and connection to those facing devastating loss.

How To Sit Shiva

During this Jewish mourning custom, the entire physical environment of the mourner is transformed to acknowledge the immediacy of death.

Why Jews Put Stones on Graves

Although the custom of placing them on a grave probably draws upon pagan customs, the stones also symbolize the permanence of memory.