The shivah and Other mourning observances

Shiva: (lit. seven) The seven day mourning period following the funeral of a deceased next of kin.

Jewish tradition exhorts us to properly mourn the passing of a loved one, and sets the practices and rituals that facilitate and give expression to our feelings of loss and grief.

At the same time, however, it establishes a sequence of time frames through which the intensity of our mourning is progressively mitigated, from the most intense mourning that is observed in the hours after a death, to the seven-day "shivah" observed following the burial, to the 30-day shloshim period, and so on.

It is a traditional to bring food to mourning home such as Dried Fruits & Nuts Platters , Cookie Trays or Shiva Baskets.