If you haven’t read part I yet, you can go here to check it out.

In the Jewish religion when a really close person passes away there has to be a period of mourning for that person. That is called the Shiva literally meaning “seven”. This only applies to family and it is only on a mother or father, brother or sister, son and daughter and of course a person’s wife or husband. For anyone else you are not supposed to put yourself in this state of mourning.

Right after a person passes away the mourning period begins. It lasts seven days. Since the body has to be buried within 24 hours, everyone is really rushed on the first day. During the seven days of mourning, a person is supposed to sit on the floor (no chair or beds or anything else that is elevated) . A person is not allowed to cut their nails, or shave. It is also better for someone to stay at one place during the period, and not to go out a lot.

After the initial seven days of mourning, there is also a period of mourning for 30 full days. That also starts at the time the person passed away, and lasts exactly thirty days. On the night of the thirtieth day, the night where the thirty days of mourning end, you are supposed to make a meal in honor of the deceased memory.

So it was the night of the thirtieth day since my friend Adi passed away. Obviously his friends were also invited to this. There were a lot of Rabbis and other leaders of the community that were they to give honor to the deceased. I remember Adi’s father went up there and gave the most heartfelt speech ever. His little brother who was eight at the time also got up and started breaking into tears over his brother. On that night all of Adi’s friends made a promise to his family not to ever lose touch. We promised each other to go to each others occasions and to always come over.

Saturday after Saturday we would make the hour and half walk to my deceased friends parents house. We used to read Psalms in his honor, play board games, eat a lot, and just have the most relaxing and great time.