Jewish Culture Beliefs, Customs and Rituals Associated with Death, Dying and Grief



Jewish Culture Beliefs, Customs and Rituals Associated with Death, Dying and Grief

Jewish Culture Beliefs, Customs and Rituals Associated with Death, Dying and Grief

The death in the Jewish custom is accompanied by a series of rituals that aim to honour the memory of the deceased and bring comfort to their families. The Jew has an intense love of life, yet, has great respect for death. If the death occurred, the dead should not be touched first. The body is laid on the ground and lit a candle. The corpse is washed and dressed in a plain, linen shroud. This shroud gives the bride to the groom to the wedding and it just carries on New Year and Day of Atonement. With all the activities in context of death and funeral help members of the Holy Brotherhood, called the Chevra Kadisha. To burial of the deceased is never left alone, which is seen as a lack of respect, therefore, a shomer (guardian) sits beside the dead and says to various psalms (Diamant, 1998).

The funeral of traditional death takes place outside of Israel, but usually requires a wait of 48 hours duty (Fishbane, 1994). The funeral service will be held in a morgue. A rabbi holds a eulogy and then said the son of the deceased or the next of kin of the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, in which God is praised. After that, the dead will be accompanied to the grave. To accompany, the grave is considered mitzvah, a religious duty, and good deed. At the cemetery, the family as a sign of mourning tear one's clothes, now mostly symbolic. By the break a tie or a ribbon stitched on top of clothing (Gemmill, 2010) .

The Jewish religion rejects the cremation. This is justified by the biblical notion that the body returns to its original condition and secondly, the combustion is considered hasty, unnatural means to get rid of the corpse of a person who was beloved member of the family. Because the biblical commandment "Thou shalt not be to Earth." was previously wrapped the remains with shrouds (Gillman, 2007).

In Israel, this custom is still in use today, but in most Western countries, local regulations require the use of coffins. Usually used to coffins made of soft wood, because they decay faster than coffins made of hard wood. In addition, holes are drilled into the coffin so that the body decays faster. For many Jews, there is a desire to be buried in Jerusalem, there is the idea that the people buried in Jerusalem with the coming of the Messiah rise first and the earth from the Holy Land to have sin subsequent effect. Since it is not possible to bury all the Jews in Israel, you put a bag of much dead earth from the Holy Land at the head. At a Jewish funeral are dispensed flowers and ornate tombs, because it should be clear that all ...