Moed Katan 22 - The stages of mourning

If one's close relative dies, one enters the period of mourning. The day of the death is the hardest. He does not wear tefillin and does not say the regular blessings spoken throughout the day. This bereavement lasts until the burial - which ideally should be on the day of death.

With the closing of the casket begins the "shivah," which lasts for seven days. When the body is buried without a coffin, shiva starts with the closing of the grave. If the body is taken to a different city, those mourners who do not accompany the body begin shivah as soon as they take leave of the body.

Burying and mourning for one's parents are different from the other close relatives. For all other relatives, the sooner he buries them - the better. For his father and mother, one who eulogizes them is praiseworthy. In the former times, the pallbearers would stop many times on the way, and at each stop, some additional eulogizing and mourning would take place.

Art: Mourning by Jules Charles Boquet