Death and Mourning

Why Doesn’t the Mourner’s Kaddish Mention the Dead?

Rabbi Sandra Cohen

Why doesn’t the Mourner’s Kaddish mention the dead? We say Kaddish at gravesides and on yahrzeits (anniversaries of death), and yet it does not speak words of comfort to those of us who are mourning.

Death and Mourning

Everything You Need to Know About the Jewish Custom of Shiva

Rabbi Ana Bonnheim

Judaism has a carefully ritualized structure for dealing with grief. The first stage in the gradual process of healing is called shiva.

Death and Mourning

Remembering My Mom and Making Her Legacy a Blessing

Michele Braun

May 9, 2019

Planning to offer brief remarks before Kaddish for my mother, I found it much harder to summarize her life than it had been for my father four years earlier.

Death and Mourning

Is it Jewishly permissible for us to bury our beloved pet with my late mother? The dog meant a lot to her.

Rabbi Julie Zupan

There are Jewish practices that can support those who experience the loss of pet.

Death and Mourning

Do Jews Believe in an Afterlife?

Rabbi Evan Moffic

What happens when we die? Do we see our loved ones? Do we know them? Do they know us? Jewish wisdom offers no definitive answer, but there is guidance in several core teachings.