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.

Okay so here it is. I really don’t know much about writing so guys don’t expect anything insane. One of the top guys from Hey You Baby! is a really good friend of mine and knows my whole story. He came and approached me with a request. He just opened a blog for his website and wanted me to write the whole story of me and my wife. I did admit to him that it was an interesting story, and after much convincing I decided to take him up on his request.

Now I’m sitting here getting ready to write, but I realize I have no idea how to write. English was my worst subject! (Besides for the fact that I was born in Iran.) So what I’m going to do is try to start off with an introduction about myself and see where that leads.

Hi, I’m Igal. I was born on Sept. 01, 1986. (Even though I don’t really know my real birthday) I’m 21 years old, have a beautiful loving wife, and G-d willing a little baby on the way! I came from Iran when I was about 3 years old. Went to school, had a decent childhood, and I’m having a great adulthood.

When I was 15, even though I didn’t know it yet, I met my wife. We used to go to this Jewish group called NCSY where I used to play basketball every week while she would be on the sidelines chatting with her friends. I would see her week after week but I was too shy to go over and speak to her. At 16 I stopped going to the group altogether. I had a full time job managing a pizza store, and going into early admissions into college.

When I was 17 I was having the time of my life. I was going to Essex County College for an accounting major, had a full time job at IDT Corp. making good money, and spent the weekend blowing the money just chilling with my friends.

On May 24, 2004 I got a call from Dina, my good friends sister, that Adi my good friend passed away from cancer. He was 18. I was shocked, depressed, upset, sad, and disrupted, all at once. He was diagnosed once already at 16, and he overcame it. But it came back with such force that nothing could be done. He was one of those people that you always saw smiling. Even if he was in the most intense pain in the world, he was always smiling so the person watching him should not get sad and upset about how he is.

We went to the funeral. It was jam packed. I remember that day like it was yesterday. There was no room in the synagogue to even stand. The crowds in the street were amazing. It was thundering and lightning on that day. He got buried in New Jersey. There must have been at least 300 cars making the hour and half trip from Brooklyn to the cemetery. We came home sad and depressed.