Jewish mourning takes place both in private and public settings. When we visit a grave or observe a yahrzeit, the anniversary of a person’s death, we generally do so in private.
Kever Avot is the custom of visiting graves of loved ones between Rosh HaShanahThe Jewish New Year, also considered the Day of Judgment. The period of the High Holidays is a time of introspection and atonement. The holiday is celebrated with the sounding of the shofar, lengthy prayers in synagogue, the eating of apples and honey, and round challah for a sweet and whole year. Tashlikh, casting bread on the water to symbolize the washing away of sins, also takes place on Rosh Hashana. and Yom KippurThe holiest day of the Jewish year and the culmination of a season of self-reflection. Jews fast, abstain from other worldly pleasures, and gather in prayers that last throughout the day. Following Ne'ilah, the final prayers, during which Jews envision the Gates of Repentance closing, the shofar is sounded in one long blast to conclude the holy day. It is customary to begin building one's sukkah as soon as the day ends..
Yizkor is the public observance for the community of bereaved that takes places four times a year: at Yom Kippur, SukkotLit. Booths or huts Sukkot is the autumn harvest Festival of Booths, is celebrated starting the 15th of the Jewish month of Tishrei. Jews build booths (sukkot), symbolic of the temporary shelters used by the ancient Israelites when they wandered in the desert. Traditionally, Jews eat and sleep in the sukkah for the duration of the holiday (seven days in Israel and eight outside of Israel). The lulav (palm frond), willow, myrtle, and etrog fruit are also waved together., PesachPassover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery and Exodus from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Pesakh. Its name derives from the tenth plague, in which God "passed over" the homes of the Jewish firstborn, slaying only the Egyptian firstborn. Passover is celebrated for a week, and many diaspora Jews celebrate for eight days. The holiday begins at home at a seder meal and ritual the first (and sometimes second) night. Jews tell the story of the Exodus using a text called the haggadah, and eat specific food (matzah, maror, haroset, etc). and ShavuotShavuot is the holiday fifty days after Passover and commemorates when the Israelite liberation from Egypt culminates with the giving of the Torah. Traditionally, Jews study in an all-night study session, eat dairy products (one interpretation is that the Torah is like milk to us), and read both the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth..
God, Source of All, Comfort of all who mourn, I ask for Your comfort as I return to a place of emotional devastation. My heart is filled with the pain of loss; I feel the sharpness of a grief that will be with me until my own dying day.
At this time of year, when it is traditional to visit the graves of our beloved dead, I ache with longing. I feel so very far away, separated by geography and time and by the reality that life does go on, no matter how difficult it is to be without _________. How I wish we could be together again to talk, to laugh, to touch. How I wish I could say “I love you” one more time.
In the midst of my sorrow at a life without __________, I am grateful that I have been granted the ability to know what it is to love and be loved in return. As I light this candle in honor and memory of my beloved__________, I thank and bless you, God, Source of Life and Love, for blessing us with the life we shared.
I ask you, God, to bless me with comfort and healing. May the blessing of ___________’s life give me the courage to make a blessing of my own. May I go forward from this time in renewed strength and peace. Amen.
One Response
This will be a very helpful prayer/blessing during each yizkor and Yartzeit candle lighting when I light a candle five times a year for my twin brother.
Todah Rabah.