The Jewish Tradition of Caring for the Body of the Deceased

According to halakhah, a Jewish corpse is to be treated with the utmost respect. It may not be left alone in the interval between death and burial, and it must be methodically washed following a prescribed procedure. The group, entirely voluntary, that performs these rituals is the ḥevra kadisha, or “holy society.” In the Jewish communities of prewar Europe, membership in such a society was considered a privilege and a sign of status. Daniel Troy revisits a 1992 article he wrote about his own participation in a ḥevra kadisha, and what its traditions teach about life. (Interview by Jonathan Silver. Audio, 31 minutes. Options for download and streaming are available at the link below.)