Mourn

A number of Sephardic shiva customs involve individual and communal study.

The earliest phase of mourning, aninut, which occurs between death and burial, applies to immediate family members.

The Kaddish originated as an expression of praise to God following a learned discourse.

Adults help children most when they express their own sorrow and respond to questions in a truthful, yet age-appropriate way.

The Kaddish responds to three questions: Is there a God? Why do people die? What is the meaning of life?

Shoveling dirt onto the coffin is the family's final ritual act of honoring the dead.

Recent historical events have lead to new archetypes.

Judaism has communal fasts that are not on the yearly calendar and numerous occasions when individuals may choose to fast.

This pre-Passover fast applies to a select few.

In Jewish sources, the ideal Jewish society will be situated in Israel and ushered in by catastrophic events.

Early Zionist thinkers envisioned, in great detail, the perfect human--and Jewish--society.

At death, several gestures indicate respect for the deceased as well as acceptance of the reality of death.