Mourning Rituals

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.

What happens at the Jewish cemetery.

Following shiva, the sheloshim period of less intensive mourning lasts until the 30th day after the funeral.

Judaism is famously ambiguous about what happens when we die.

Common questions about Jewish death and burial customs.

Study in honor of dead; women reciting Kaddish; Kaddish integrating mourners into communities; and hiring someone to say Kaddish.

Shiva is observed in the home as an intensive mourning period for close relatives.

Can women say the Mourner's Kaddish?

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

Although priests cannot have any contact with death, exceptions are made for their immediate relatives.

Some Jews consider Torah study, and particularly Mishnah, to be a potent tool for elevating the souls of the departed.

How the Book of Job made its way into Jewish prayer and ritual.