JEWISH DEATH AND MOURNING CUSTOMS

Jewish customs of death and mourning are some of the most revered in our tradition.  They bring comfort and embody wisdom, and ensure that we are connected to the healing power of community and tradition.  The purpose of this guide is to give an overview of the Jewish laws and customs as they are practiced at Beacon Hebrew Alliance.  If you have any questions about anything in this guide, please be in touch with Rabbi Justin David at justin@beaconhebrewalliance.org

This document was revised on August 21, 2025.

FROM DEATH TO BURIAL

The Jewish tradition emphasizes burying the deceased as soon as possible after death (1). Funerals can be at the graveside or at a funeral home. Most funeral homes are familiar with Jewish mourning rituals; BHA has a long-standing relationship with Riverview Funeral Home (845-831-0380).

TAHARAH (WASHING) AND SH'MIRAH (ATTENDING THE DECEASED)

In the Jewish tradition, the deceased are accompanied from the time of death until burial by shomrim, who read Psalms or other appropriate texts in a room adjacent to the deceased, in order to cultivate an attitude of respect, compassion. The mitzvah of shmira, or keeping watch, can be performed by anyone who wishes to honor the deceased.

Taharah is the practice of lovingly washing and preparing the body of the deceased for burial. This very ancient and important mitzvah is performed by members of BHA’s Chevra Kadisha (burial society), who have been trained for this purpose. After washing, the Chevra dresses the deceased in traditional Jewish burial garments and places the deceased in a plain wooden casket.

The purpose of these rituals is to provide kavod hameit, honor to the dead, and nichum aveilim, comfort to the mourners. The Jewish tradition does not endorse embalming or cremating the dead, but returns the body to the earth from which we came.

There are no set fees for these services, but it is customary to donate to the synagogue to support these efforts. The suggested donation is $500. No member of BHA is ever denied these or other funeral services for financial reasons.

BURIAL

Burial in the BHA cemetery on 274 Osbourne Hill Road in Fishkill is open to members of the synagogue (including mishpoche (family) members). For fees for burial, reservations for plots, or other details, please be in touch with our Cemetery Chair, Jeff Gross  (please visit our BHA Cemetery page). No member of BHA is turned away from our cemetery for financial reasons.

If you would like for Rabbi David to officiate at the funeral, please contact him on his cell phone at any time (413-320-1355) and then contact Riverview or a different funeral home of your choosing to set the time for the funeral. There is no formal fee for Rabbi David to officiate at a funeral for a member of BHA or their immediate family; however it is customary to make a voluntary contribution of $1000 to the Rabbi Discretionary Fund at BHA. Fees for non-member funerals are $1000; non-members with further questions should speak directly with Rabbi David.

While the preference is for burial to be as soon possible, there are circumstances in which a delay is appropriate, particularly if close family members need to make travel arrangements. A delay of more than three days is very unusual and should be avoided.

Once the date and time have been set, you should then talk with Rabbi David about the eulogy and who should speak at the funeral. In general, the practice at BHA is for eulogies to include recollections by people  who actually knew the deceased. Even if they did not know the deceased, clergy can be helpful in sharing the Jewish tradition's perspective on the family's feelings and observations.  Any desires or feelings you have about the funeral should be communicated clearly to Rabbi David. When you speak with him, it will be useful to have the following information about your loved one: their date and place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, membership in organizations, military service or noteworthy achievements, and a list of survivors in the immediate family.

When a member of our synagogue is in mourning, the general practice at BHA is to send an email to the congregation announcing the death and sharing funeral and shiva information as appropriate. If you would like to do something other than that, please be sure to let Rabbi David know.

Jewish burial and mourning practices are deliberately simple. By very strong and ancient tradition, Jews are (2) buried in simple, unadorned pine wood caskets. Occasionally, members are honored by having holy documents (genizah) buried with them. If you would like for your loved one to be honored in this way, please let Rabbi David know.

If you have suffered a miscarriage or other pregnancy loss, Rabbi David is available to support you in honoring this loss via counseling, ritual, prayer, or burial, and connecting you to additional resources.

SITTING SHIVA

TIMING

After the funeral, mourners begin a managed return from grief to “normal” life which begins with an intensive seven-day period of mourning known as shiva. At BHA, many of our members sit shiva the full week, while others decide on a shortened shiva schedule.

Shiva, which simply means seven in Hebrew, begins on the day of the funeral and continues for six subsequent days. Shiva ends on the morning of the seventh day. Shiva is suspended three hours before sunset on Friday afternoon and is resumed after Shabbat is over. If a major holiday, such as Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanna or Yom Kippur falls during the shiva period, shiva concludes three hours before the eve of the festival.

PRACTICE FOR MOURNERS

Traditionally, mourners stay home during the shiva period and refrain from participating in outside activities (including work). When experiencing a loss, mourners need to step out of everyday activity for a while. Relatives, friends, and members of the community support the mourners by visiting during shiva.

The shiva period begins after burial with a simple meal, the seudat havra'ah (the meal of consolation). There is a custom to rinse one's hands with water before entering the house for the meal as a way of leaving the gravesite behind. This meal, traditionally provided by family and friends for the mourners, is not a social event; it is a time to rest and contemplate the day's events and generally only family and close friends should attend so as to avoid a party-like atmosphere. This is traditionally a simple meal, often with hard-boiled eggs, which symbolize the cycle of life. Neither meat nor wine, two symbols of joy, should be served at this meal.

During this seven day period, mourners traditionally do not leave their houses, so public prayer services are held in their home. The service can be led by anyone who is comfortable leading the service.

There are a number of practices traditionally observed by those sitting shiva.

• A seven-day candle (provided by BHA or the funeral home) is lit upon returning from the cemetery.
• Mourners generally refrain from entertainment, such as television, during the week.
• Mourners generally cover the mirrors in their home, to show that we reduce the importance normally placed on personal vanity.
• Mourners are encouraged to observe the customs of not wearing shoes and sitting on low stools during shiva, which show that we change the way we live during this time.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE

When members of our community are sitting shiva, it is the responsibility of everyone else in the community to fulfill the mitzvah of nichum avelim, comforting the mourners. We do this by bringing them food, helping with the tasks of life such as caring for children and shoveling the walk, and showing up for minyan so that mourners can say kaddish. We strive to be a kehilah kedosha in every way, and among the most important is caring for others in their moments of grief.

Our Ritual Committee reaches out to our community to ensure that we have a minyan. By definition, these calls are made without much lead time and in a small community such as ours, it can sometimes be a challenge to ensure that we have the 10 Jewish adults needed to make a minyan.

Even when many people have gathered, shiva minyanim are not parties. Tradition teaches that it is customary to enter the house of mourning in silence, to wait for the mourners to begin any conversation, and to let them set the tone of that conversation. Some mourners may wish to share memories of the deceased, others may prefer to discuss last night’s baseball game, and others may wish to sit quietly. A visitor’s responsibility is to follow the mourner's lead. The door of the home should be left unlocked so that visitors can enter without knocking or ringing the doorbell

Mourners are not obligated to have food or drink available for those who come to visit.

SAYING KADDISH

When the mourning period is a year, kaddish is recited for eleven months and a day. One can choose, and it is appropriate to do so, to say kaddish for the full year, even if the obligation is only for thirty days. At BHA, both sons and daughters share the obligation to recite kaddish, which can be said any time we are davvening. Even if you are not able to say kaddish every day, it is worthwhile and appropriate to set a regular pattern of saying kaddish every week, for instance. The obligation to say kaddish cannot be transferred to another person. A parent may tell children that it is not “necessary” to say kaddish or a child may feel that a parent “wouldn't have wanted me to say it.” Mourning, however, is for the living, not the dead, and it is the mourner who needs to discern what will be appropriate for him or her.

SHLOSHIM 

Shiva ends on the morning of the seventh day, including the day of the burial. The rest of the month following burial is known as shloshim, which is Hebrew for 30, as in days (3) . During this period, mourners continue to say kaddish daily, and traditionally refrain from festive activities such as going to the movies, theater, dances or parties. However, they do return to their regular activities at work and and home.

SHANA

Only when one is mourning a parent does the period of formal mourning extend past shloshim into shana, which is a year, understood to be 11 months and one day. For those who are mourning a parent, the mourning practices of shloshim continue for the full year.

(1) See Deuteronomy 21:23

(2) For more on simplicity in burial practices, see Moed Katan 27a-b regarding caskets and Ketubot 8b regarding clothing.

(3)The Israelites mourned Moses for 30 days; see Deuteronomy 34:8