ABSTRACT
I (HIS) contend that rituals give an individual a ‘‘corporate’’ way to acknowledge
the death (Harold Ivan Smith, 2001, p. 56):
Rituals help survivors publicly acknowledge the reality of the loss. Rituals acknowledge friends’ and neighbors’ grief. Rituals provide a venue to celebrate the life of the deceased. Rituals provide a way to corporately express good-byes. Rituals provide a way to offer support to the chief mourners. Rituals provide ways to promise future support and care. Rituals give an opportunity to be with others who, too, have lost. Rabbi Michael Zedek (1999) suggested that rituals are tripartite in meaning with the
goal of ‘‘requiring us to act our way into right thinking:’’
1. to help us acknowledge what has happened
2. to help us know what we are when something has happened
3. to help us proceed when something has happened.
