Shiva
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News Five shiva traditions, explained
Like any Jewish tradition, shiva comes with a history of customs and rituals that date back centuries. While some basic customs, such as staying home and having guests over, happen at most shivas, many other traditions can look different – depending on a family’s cultural background and religious observance. Whether you’ve never been to a…
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Life Five practical ways to feed people who are sitting shiva
Jewish holidays and food are synonymous, from sufganiyot on Chanukah to hamantaschen on Purim. But food can also be used as comfort during less jubilant times: When it comes to the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva after a family member’s death, food is an important aspect to consider. In Genesis 50:10, Joseph observed a seven-day…
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News How to talk to children about shiva
For parents of young children, the death of a loved one might mean bringing a child to their first shiva visit. Regardless of whether children have talked to their parents about death, hearing about a death can spark a broad range of questions and emotional responses. As parents go through their own processes of grieving,…
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Culture 19 reasons why shiva is like a Phish concert
My mother loved a party. In fact, my mother was a party! She loved art and theater and literature, and subcultures of the high and lowbrow varieties; she fled her parents’ strict home at 22 to find herself in swinging London, looking the part in Twiggy eyeliner and a mod haircut. It changed the course…
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Culture In ‘Shiva Baby,’ Jewish anxiety gets so bad that it turns into a horror movie
I am not claustrophobic. But watching “Shiva Baby,” 26-year-old Emma Seligman’s first feature film, I felt the walls closing in on me. Ariel Marx’s high-pitched and plunky soundtrack felt akin to the “Psycho” score’s shrieking violins and I could feel my cortisol rising throughout the entire runtime. While the film bills itself as a comedy,…
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Culture On saying kaddish over Zoom
My mother died four days into 2021. Zoom burial, Zoom shiva, and now, Zoom kaddish. Every morning, I log on and watch the usual suspects arrive at my synagogue’s Shacharit service. They pop up, one by one, in their boxes. Hi, everyone. Hi, S. who puts her earrings on before the service starts. Hi, A….
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Community A year into COVID, Zoom funerals are still surreal
I waited outside the main office building of Beth Moses Cemetery in Long Island. It was a bright, cold day. I’d been there many times before. Normally the spot is a swirl of activity, with cars snaking around every driveway, funeral directors talking shop in small clumps and crowds of mourners greeting one another with…
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Culture In a heartbreaking tribute to his son, Jamie Raskin normalizes discussion of suicide among Jews
Tommy Raskin was, by all accounts, a deeply empathetic individual, whether fighting on behalf of humans or animals. His father, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote in a statement published on Medium that his son “hated cliques and social snobbery, never had a negative word for anyone but tyrants and despots, and opposed all malicious…
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