Chevra Kadisha
Encyclopedia
A chevra kadisha (Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

: חברא קדישא, Ḥebh'ra Qaddisha "holy society") is a loosely structured but generally closed organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha (Jewish law) and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...

. Two of the main requirements are the showing of proper respect for a corpse, and the ritual cleansing of the body and subsequent dressing for burial. It is usually referred to as a burial society
Burial society
A burial society is a form of friendly society. These groups historically existed in England, and constituted for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions, for insuring money to be paid on the death of a member, or for the funeral expenses of the husband, wife or child of a member, or of...

 in English.

The task of the chevra kadisha is considered a laudable one, as tending to the dead is a favour that the recipient cannot return, making it devoid of ulterior motives. Its work is therefore referred to as a chesed shel emet (a good deed of truth), paraphrased from (where Jacob asks his son Joseph, "do me a 'true' favor" and Joseph promises his father to bury him in the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

).

At the heart of the society's function is the ritual of tahara, or purification. The body is first thoroughly cleansed of dirt, body fluids and solids, and anything else that may be on the skin, and then it is ritually purified by immersion in, or a continuous flow of, water from the head over the entire body. Tahara may refer to either the entire process, or to the ritual purification. Once the body is purified, the body is dressed in tachrichim
Tachrichim
Tachrichim are traditional simple white burial garments, usually made from 100% pure linen, in which Jews are dressed by the Chevra Kadisha for burial after undergoing a taharah ....

, or shrouds, of white pure cotton garments made up of ten pieces for a male and twelve for a female, which are identical for each Jew and which symbolically recalls the garments worn by the Kohen Gadol
Kohen Gadol
The High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...

 (High Priest). Once the body is dressed, the casket is sealed. When being buried in Israel, however, a casket is not used.

The society may also provide shomrim, or watchers
Shemira
Shemira refers to the Jewish religious ritual of watching over the body of a deceased person from the time of death until burial. A male guardian is called a shomer and a female guardian is a shomeret . Shomrim are people who perform shemira...

, to guard the body from theft, rodents, or desecration until burial. In some communities this is done by people close to the departed or by paid shomrim hired by the funeral home. At one time, the danger of theft of the body was very real, yet in modern times it has become a way of honoring the deceased.

A specific task for the burial society is tending to the dead who have no immediate next-of-kin. These are termed a meit mitzvah (a mitzvah
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...

 corpse), as tending to a meit mitzvah overrides virtually any other positive commandment (mitzvat aseh) of Torah law.

Many burial societies hold one or two annual fast days and organise regular study sessions to remain up-to-date with the relevant articles of Jewish law. In addition, most burial societies also support families during the shiv'ah
Shiv'ah
Shiva is the week-long mourning period in Judaism for first-degree relatives: father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, and spouse. The ritual is referred to as "sitting shiva." Immediately after burial, first-degree relatives assume the halakhic status of "avel"...

(traditional week of mourning) by arranging prayer services
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....

, meals and other facilities.

While burial societies were, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, generally a community function, in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 it has become far more common for societies to be organized by each synagogue. However, not every synagogue has such a society.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, chevra kadisha societies were formed as landsmanshaft
Landsmanshaft
A landsmanshaft was a Jewish benefit society, or Hometown society of immigrants from the same town or region....

fraternal societies in the United States. Some landsmanshaft were burial societies while others were "independent" groups split off from the chevras. There were 20,000 such landsmanshaft in the U.S. at one time.

Further reading

  • Chesed Shel Emet: The Truest Act of Kindness, Rabbi Stuart Kelman, October, 2000, EKS Publishing Co., ISBN 0-939144-33-6.
  • A Plain Pine Box: A Return to Simple Jewish Funerals and Eternal Traditions,Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman, 1981, 2003, KTAV Publishing House, ISBN 0-88125-787-7.
  • Tahara Manual of Practices including Halacha Decisions of Hagaon Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt'l, Rabbi Mosha Epstein, 1995, 2000, 2005.

External links

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