Jewish Funeral Traditions

Jewish Funeral Traditions

At a Jewish funeral a candle is placed by the deceased and they are

never left alone. The reason the body is not left alone is because the

soul stays near the body after its separation and is aware of the love

and respect for its body.

Shomrim, those who stay with the deceased, are assigned to stay and

say prayers over the body on a 24-hour basis so that the holy prayers

comfort the soul.

The body is cleansed, washed thoroughly from head to toe (Taharah).

The faces of the deceased are not allowed to face down out of respect

for the deceased. The body is then dried, everything is done by the

members of the Burial Society and they also dress the deceased in a

plain white, simple, handmade, clean shrouds called takhrikhin, this

has no pockets to show that the deceased cannot take anything with

them to the grave. The takhrikhin is white to symbolize purity and

dignity.

A tallit is wrapped around the deceased and the tzitzit is cut to show

that the deceased no longer need to keep mitzvoth.

The body is placed in a plain pine coffin and is buried, if possible,

within 24 hours but not on a Shabbat or on the first day of any

festival.

The dead body is brought to the grave on a plain bier. The bier is

plain because the rich used to bring their deceased to the grave on

rich tall state beds covered in rich coverlets and the poor brought

their deceased to the grave on a plain bier, this made the poor

ashamed so a law was made which said everyone should be brought to the

grave on a plain bier. This is all described in the Talmud. Death

should not be a time for showing luxury and wealth because3 in d...

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...eness for them.

People may be afraid of the pain that comes with death and they may be

worried of not knowing what will happen after their souls separate

from their body, they may have lots of questions, but people would say

that faith removes fear and maybe God will remove the pain. Some

people may say that this world is a vestibule and the next is the

palace so the next world will be painless and better than this one. If

you believe in God then you have nothing to fear.

" The Lord God gave, and the Lord God hath taken away; blessed be the

name of the Lord." Job 1:21.

They might just be afraid of dying, they have no reason to be afraid

because death should be seen as an opportunity to "put one's house in

order" and anyway when the messiah comes to earth during the messianic

age everyone will be reincarnated.