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Chevra kadisha

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Hevra Kadisha forSefaradim,the Or-Hachaim Gate

The termchevra kadisha(Hebrew:חֶבְרָה קַדִּישָׁא)[1]gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. It is an organization ofJewishmen and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Jews are prepared forburialaccording to Jewish tradition and are protected fromdesecration,willful or not, until burial. Two of the main requirements are the showing of proper respect for acorpse,and the ritual cleansing of the body and subsequent dressing for burial.[2]It is usually referred to as aburial societyin English.

History

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Chevra kadisha medal from 1876, on the occasion of the 200-year jubilee of the chevra kadisha ofGailingen.In the collection of theJewish Museum of Switzerland.

Throughout Jewish history, each Jewish community throughout the world has established a chevra kadisha – a holy society – whose sole function is to ensure dignified treatment of the deceased in accordance with Jewish law, custom, and tradition. Men prepare the bodies of men, women prepare those of women.[2]

At the heart of the society's function is the ritual oftahara,or purification. The body is first thoroughly cleansed of dirt, bodily fluids and solids, and anything else that may be on the skin, and then is ritually purified by immersion in, or a continuous flow of, water from the head over the entire body.Taharamay refer to either the entire process, or to the ritual purification. Once the body is purified, the body is dressed intachrichim,or shrouds, of white pure muslin or linen 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 theHigh Priest of Israel.Once the body is shrouded, thecasketis closed. For burial inIsrael,however, a casket is not used in most cemeteries.

The society may also provideshomrim,orwatchers,to guard the body from theft, vermin, or desecration until burial. In some communities this is done by people close to the departed or by paidshomrimhired by thefuneral home.At one time, the danger of theft of the body was very real; in modern times the watch has become a way of honoring the deceased.

A specific task of the burial society is tending to the dead who have no next-of-kin. These are termed ameit mitzvah(מת מצוה,amitzvahcorpse), as tending to ameit mitzvahoverrides virtually any other positivecommandment(mitzvat aseh) ofTorahlaw, an indication of the high premium the Torah places on the honor of the dead.

Many burial societies hold one or two annual fast days and organise regular study sessions to remain up-to-date with the relevant articles ofJewish law.In addition, most burial societies also support families during theshiva(traditional week of mourning) by arrangingprayer services,meals and other facilities.

While burial societies were, inEurope,generally a community function, in theUnited Statesit has become far more common for societies to be organized by neighborhood synagogues. In the late 19th and early 20th century,chevra kadishasocieties were formed aslandsmanshaftfraternal societies in the United States. Some landsmanshaftn were burial societies while others were "independent" groups split off from the chevras. There were 20,000 such landsmanshaftn in the U.S. at one time.[3][4]

Recordkeeping

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Thechevra kadishaof communities in pre-World War II Europe maintainedPinkas Klali D’Chevra Kadisha(translation: general notebook of the Chevra Kadisha); some were handwritten in Yiddish, others in Hebrew.[5]

Etymology

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In standard Hebrew, "sacred society" would be writtenחבורה קדושהḥavurā qədošā,while in Aramaic,חבורתא קדישתאḥavurtā qaddišṯā.Modern Hebrewchevra qadishais of unclear etymology. The Aramaic phrase is first attested inYekum Purkan,in a 13th-century copy ofMachzor Vitry,but it was rarely used again in print until it gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. The Hebrew phrase predated it in modern popularity by some decades. Probably the Modern Hebrew phrase is a phonetic transliteration of the Ashkenazic pronunciation of the Hebrew version, which has been misinterpreted as an Aramaic phrase and therefore spelled with a yodh and aleph.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Samuel G. Freedman (November 13, 2015)."For Jewish Students, Field Trip Is Window on Death and Dying".The New York Times.RetrievedOctober 23,2022.known as chevra kadisha
  2. ^abPaul Vitello (December 13, 2010)."Reviving a Ritual of Tending to the Dead".The New York Times.RetrievedOctober 23,2022.
  3. ^Weisser, Michael R.,A Brotherhood of Memory: Jewish Landsmanshaftn in the New World,Cornell University Press, 1985,ISBN0801496764,pp. 13–14
  4. ^Vitello, Paul(August 3, 2009)."With Demise of Jewish Burial Societies, Resting Places Are in Turmoil".The New York Times.
  5. ^Catherine Hickley (February 19, 2021)."Auction House Suspends Sale of 19th-Century Jewish Burial Records".The New York Times.RetrievedOctober 23,2022.memorial register of Jewish burials

Further reading

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