Jewish Mortuary Vocab

[ofblessedmemory]

All of these are Hebrew unless stated otherwise.

• Maveth (מוֹת) – death
  
• K'vod Hamet (כבוד המת) – respect for the dead
  
• Petira – passing
  
• Onayn – the day the news of a death is first heard
  
• K’riah (קריעה) – the rending of a garment; Jewish custom of tearing one’s clothes in grief
  
• Chevra kadisha (חברה קדישא) – a Jewish burial society
  
• Shmira (שמירה) – (verb) watching over a body
  
• Shomer (m. שומרת) / Shomeret (f. שומר) – watcher; someone who watches over a body
  
• Kittel (קיטל‎ - Yiddish) – A white robe worn by Ashkenazi Jewish men, which they are buried in. Also often worn by married men at certain times, such as Yom Kippur, when leading the Passover seder, or -in some traditions- on his wedding day.
  
• Tachrichim (תכריכים) – white burial shroud, made of %100 linen, which Jews are dressed and buried in.
  
• Taharah (טהרה) – the ritual washing of the body
• Levaya (לְוָיָה) – funeral; “to accompany the dead”
  
• Seudat havra'ah (סעודת הבראה) – a meal of consolation eaten after a funeral; lit. “meal of comforting”
  
• Kever (קבר) – grave
  
• Kevurah (קבורה) – burial
  
• Hepsed (הֶסְפֵּד) – eulogy
  
• Beit almin (בית עלמין) – a Jewish cemetery; lit. “house of eternity”
  
• Beit kvarot (בית קברות) – a Jewish cemetery; lit. “house of tombs”
  
• Matzeivah (מצבה) – a gravestone/headstone/grave marker
  
• Avel (אבל) – a mourner; (pl. aveilim)
• Nichum Aveilim (ניחום אבלים) – comforting mourners; the practice of visiting a family sitting shiva
  
• Avelut (אֲבֵלוּת) – bereavement; the overall period of mourning
  
• Aninut (אנינות) – intense mourning; the period before the funeral and lasting until after the burial
  
• Shiva (שבעה) – the first seven days after a funeral during which the immediate family mourns
  
• Shloshim (שלושים) – a 30 day mourning period after the burial, including shiva
  
• Shneim asar chodesh (שנים עשר חודש) – the first year after a death, counted from the day of death
  
• Nachala (נחלה - Hebrew) / Yom HaShanah (יום השנה - Modern Hebrew) /   Yahrtzeit (יארצייט - Yiddish) / Meldado or Anyos (Ladino) – the anniversary of a death*
• Kaddish Yatom / Mourner’s Kaddish – a prayer recited for the dead
  
• Hashkaboth – a Sephardic prayer for the dead
  
• Yizkor (יזכור) – a prayer recited four times a year for deceased loved ones

*The Hebrew term Nachala is more commonly used among Sephardim than the Ladino terms.