It is considered forbidden to fast on fast days if injurious to one’s health, for the sake of performing positive commandments.
We give thanks to God every day for the gift of life, but recognize that we are mortal and that illness and death will come.
Visiting the sick is counted as one of the mitzvot that is rewarded both in this world and also in the World to Come.
The period of mourning for one’s parents is a full twelve months, and serves a deeply therapeutic function for the mourner.
Judaism does not recognize any gray area between life and death. Whenever possible, a dying person should not be left alone.
Yahrzeit should be a day given over to remembering and honoring an individual for whom one once sat shivah and is learning to live without.
Tombstone customs in Judaism stem from the religious obligation to mark a grave. This is traditionally done with tombstones or stone markers.
The halakhah does not generally permit autopsies, due to honoring the dead. However, there are two important exceptions to that rule.
Kohanim were forbidden to come into contact or share indoor space with the bodies of the dead, apart from their closest of relatives.
The period from the time of death until burial is known as aninut – the customs of the mourners during the initial stages of bereavement.
What do I do when I go to a shivah? Remember that conversation should be about the deceased, not the mourners or the visitors.
What are the Jewish laws and rituals regarding funerals? Generally, a ritual washing, burial, and a funeral, each with their own customs.
Shloshim are the thirty days that follows the week of shivah and is considered a period of reduced mourning.
The word shivah refers to the seven days of mourning that follow the burial of a parent, child, sibling, or spouse.
There are several ceremonies that families use to welcome and name a newborn girl in the synagogue or in the home.
Brit Milah refers to the covenant of circumcision, both the ritual act and the festive occasion surrounding a baby boy’s circumcision.