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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. Here you will find resources that address each aspect of the process of navigating death and mourning—from the moment of death, to the burial of the body, the tearing of clothes, the weeklong practice of shiva, and the recitation of kaddish.

 

Latest Rituals

“May his/her dreams / be fulfilled / in every one of our breaths…”
two people sit on a dock looking out over a lake
“When my grandfather died, his body swelled again / fluid filled him, drowning him from inside.”
a pair of glasses sit on an open book
“The death of a sibling too is unique. It ignites our own vivid / sense of mortality.”
two brothers, one a child and one a toddler, hold hands and walk by a pond
“In the ruins of the towers / we walked through daily / you would have found letters…” and added them up to find meaning
Hebrew letters in a book, covered by a menorah with a star of david shining down
This ritual is an opportunity for someone to meaningfully mark a threshold when they reach or pass the age at which someone who was important in their life died.
a black and white photo
The Reconstructionist version of the Mourner’s Kaddish.
kaddish_istock_1
“Count instead the growing number of cared-fors you have lost…”
a black and white photo
“The stone, once mud  at the bottom of the ocean / pressed into rock by time, / will outlast me.”
large rock jutting into the water. A person stands on the rock's edge looking out into a bright, cloudy horizon
“I sit beside you / as twilight turns to night…”
a full moon over mountains at twilight
This powerful ritual is designed for parents who have faced infant loss.
black ribbon

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