ABSTRACT
One of the ritual areas about which American Jews arc least knowledgeable is death and mourning. Jewish law stipulates that a casket is to be simple, preferably made of wooden boards and dowels. Most American Jewish funerals take place in a funeral chapel, generally a privately owned facility that provides all the necessary services to mourners, such as transporting the corpse and preparing it for burial. A Jewish funeral service is short. It consists of three parts: readings from Psalms, a eulogy, and the Memorial Prayer. The Sabbath that falls during shivah counts for one of the seven days even though it is not publicly observed as a day of mourning. Even more remarkable arc the rules relating to the intersection of shivah and a festival. During shivah and afterward, at each of the daily services, mourners recite kaddish yatom.
