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Death & Mourning

While Judaism places great emphasis on our lives in this world, death is an inevitable end for all of us. Often Jews who have been distant from traditional Jewish practice for their whole lives seek the comfort of traditional Judaism in the face of death. For mourners, whose lives are often turned upside down by death, the traditional practices of mourning can provide structure and comfort.

A Tree of Memory

An article describing the custom of planting a tree in memory of a loved one [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement

Tags: shloshim, tree planting

Kavod Ha’em – Honoring a Foremother

A ceremony which adapts traditional texts and facilitates an individualized ceremony to honor those whose memory we wish to perpetuate [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement, Becoming an Elder

Tags: eshet hayil, kiddush, Lori Hope Lefkovitz, tzedakah, yahrzeit

Dignity in Life, Dignity in Death: One Perspective on the Chevra Kaddisha

A touching view of this uniquely Jewish ritual which accords profound respect to the individual between death and burial [more]

Found In: Funeral & Burial

Moving On: Yizkor and Life Lessons from the Book of Ruth

Reflections on the transformation of mourning to affirmation [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement

Tags: Book of Ruth, Lori Hope Lefkovitz, yizkor

El Maley Rakhamim

Traditional memorial prayer recited at funerals in which God is asked to gather up the soul of the departed for eternal life [more]

Found In: Funeral & Burial

Tags: el maley rakhamim, Siddur Kol Haneshamah, unveiling, yizkor

Psalm 23

This beautiful psalm is often read at funerals or memorial services [more]

Found In: Funeral & Burial

Tags: Psalm 23, unveiling, yizkor

Closing the Apartment

Developing a ritual for the dissolution of a home [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement, Endings & Beginnings, Growing Older

Meditation for Healing from Grieving

Based on the Parasha Lech L’cha, this meditation urges the mourner to move forward in life [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement, Torah Portion: Parashah

Tags: meditation

Taking Out the Torah at a Funeral Service

A tradition honoring a Torah reader at a funeral [more]

Found In: Funeral & Burial

Prayer for Lighting the Shiva Candle

A prayer to be said before lighting the shiva candle [more]

Found In: Mourning & Bereavement

Tags: memorial candle lighting, shiva