Keeping memory alive . Each stage has specific mourning practices, enumerated in the next section. At the end of the first year the mourning period comes to a close. Beyond these initial periods of mourning, there are yearly opportunities built into the calendar for remembering those we lost. Yizkor and Yarzheit .
Death overshadows nearly everything else.
Recognizing this otherworldly state, the tradition suspends the mourner's responsibility for prayer and other daily mitzvot, acknowledging the depth of immediate grief and allowing the needs of the dead to be attended to. First Person At my father's funeral, after everybody that chose to shovel dirt onto his coffin was finished, I picked up the shovel and almost completely filled the hole. I felt compelled to do that, rather than have it done for me by strangers, and to this day I'm thankful that I had the privilege of that job. Join our private havurah communities. From the moment of death until burial the body is constantly attended.