Death & Mourning

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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

A poem to mark moments in a year of mourning.
A poem about early moments of grief
“All that remains to me / of my family’s life in Ukraine… / are four silver kiddush cups…”
A poem to mourn the losses of life to AIDS
“12 months of mourning, / Travelling, conjoined, / On our continuing / Separate ways.”
Prayer for transferring a deceased body for the process of “natural organic reduction,” also known as “human composting”
“Any ‘I love you’ / Like water, uncontained / Can have no form.”
“what I really need to work on is letting in”
“For the first time / I will miss / The Hanukkah lights”
“Teach us to spin apart the light in this dark.”

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