Let’s ponder a bit on how the Jewish people take care of their dead and of their burying according to the laws of their religion. When a person has died, members of the Jewish burial society called the ‘Chevrah Kaddisha’ take care of the dead body and treat it with respect. The body is dead, but the soul of this dead human being isn’t. His/her soul goes back to God and the human body has served as a dwelling place for his/her soul. The Jewish men take care of the male corpse and the Jewish women take care of the female corpse. They wash, clean, dress it in white graveclothes and put it in a coffin which is without any luxury: The wood is plain and pure.

Before screwing down the coffin the members of the ‘Chevrah Kaddisha’ throw some soil from ‘Erets-Israel’ into the coffin. Finally they light a candle or another light and put it next to the head of the dead body. This light serves as a symbol of the soul that has left the dead body already, and has gone back to God. People, friends, relatives, neighbours and members of the ‘Chevrah Kaddisha’ keep watch over the corpse. They quote the Psalms, they read passages from the Holy Scripture and they learn while keeping watch over the dead body. Then the coffin is carried to the cemetery, where a grave was dug. The Hebrew name for cemetery is: ‘Beth-Hagajjiem’ which means dwelling of the living. The coffin is laid down in the grave and the closest relation to the deceased person throws three spades full of earth into the grave. The other mourners follow his example. In the end, when the grave is covered completely with earth, and one has quoted a passage from Ecclesiastes, one says the ‘Kaddish’ through which one praises and honours God and pronounces his/her trust in God and knows that God’s Kingdom will come for ever and ever. Then people leave the cemetery, but before they do so, they comfort the mourners by saying: “May the Holy One blessed be He comforts you amongst all the people who mourn Zion and Jerusalem ”. After returning home they sit down and eat a very light meal together like bread and eggs. For the relatives the ‘Shiva’ has begun, the 7 days of mourning. On the last day of the ‘Shiva’ one of the members of the ‘Chevrah Kaddisha’ visits the mourning family for the last time. He/She quotes Jessiah 60:20 in which comfort and the ultimate trust in God is pronounced.

The ‘Shiva’ is finished, and the family continues mourning with kaddish prayers three times a day for eleven months. 

The relatives who had lost one of their dearest still have to consider a period of mourning of one year for their father or mother, counted from the day of death. For other relatives there is a 30 days period of mourning, counted from the day of burial. During the whole year of mourning the relatives keep the ner-tamied (the light of either a candle or a small lamp) burning for the deceased, in this way expressing their piety. After a certain period of time members of the ‘Chevra Kaddisha' laid the commemorative stone upon the grave. Very soon afterwards the relatives of the deceased, accompanied by friends and neighbours go to the cemetery to attend the ceremony of the revelation of the gravestone or the headstone. Jewish attendants quote some Psalms and read some passages from the Misnah (which is a part of the oral Torah). Finally, people go home leaving the deceased in peace.