Jewish Traditions

The second stage of the wedding is the nissuin, which is just the seclusion of the groom and bride. It can be performed before or after the feast and dance. After the wedding, a feast and dance are hosted in honour of the married couple and their families. The feast and the dance both contain numerous smaller traditions, such as traditional dances with the bride, groom, and their families. A Jewish wedding is a very important tradition to the Jewish faith and the wedding itself is interlaced with numerous, smaller but older traditions.

In Judaism, life is valued above almost most things, and even when a life has come to an end, there are numerous traditions to be followed. But Jews do not consider death a tragedy but a natural process. They believe that a person, dead or alive, still has a meaning to God. Jews have a very high belief in the afterlife and that the body reunites with the soul in heave. Therefore Jews believe that the body must be cleaned, wrapped in simple, plain linen shroud and buried in the ground without a coffin. The Jews believe that the body must come in contact with the earth, for the body to join the soul in the afterlife. The Jewish way of mourning can be broken up into several periods. These mourning periods allow the full expression of grief, while discouraging excess of grief and allowing the mourners to gradually return to normal life.

Aninut

• The family is left alone to allow the full expression of grief.
• This period usually lasts a day or two.

Shiva

• This period lasts seven days.
• The family meets to mourn together in the deceased’s home.
• Mourners do not study the torah during this period.
• Friends, neighbours, and relatives come to pray at the deceased’s house.

Shloshim

• This period lasts until the 30th day after burial.
• Mourners do not attend parties or celebrations, do not shave or cut their hair, and do not listen to music.

Avelut

• This period is only observed for a parent.
• This period lasts for 12 months after burial.

After the last period of mourning is complete, the family of the deceased is no longer permitted to continue formal mourning. For Jews, these traditions of mourning are very important and are followed very closely.

There are numerous denominations of Judaism, like Orthodox, reform and conservative, but they all share very similar traditions. The Bar/Bat mitzvah, wedding and death and mourning are all similar in between the Jewish denominations. Because these traditions are key life events, they create an enormous impact on the Jewish faith and way of living. And even for me, just learning what these traditions consist of, has had an impact on the way I view the true Jews. I have learnt that they must believe, study and work hard to become what they are. And that they must do this from a very early age on. Traditions affect, guide, and motivate everyone and that is why they are very key and important to religions, cultures, races and families.