History Of The Chevra Kadisha
The care, consideration and respect that are bestowed upon the living must be accorded the dead as they are attended, prepared and escorted to their final abode on earth. To assist in the preparation and burial of the dead is one of the greatest mitzvot in our faith.
The association that is organized to perform this service is appropriately named Chevra Kadisha, the Holy Society. It was one of the first associations to be established in the traditional Jewish community of the past. Membership in the Chevra Kadisha has always been considered a unique privilege. The members must be Sabbath observers, of high moral character, and conversant with the laws and customs that are the responsibility of the office they occupy.
The society was already known in Talmudic times. Even scholars and sages did not consider it beneath their dignity to attend to the dead. Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi in 1564 in Prague laid the foundation of an efficient burial society that became the model of all similar bodies. During the Middle Ages it became customary for the Chevra Kadisha to devote one day each year to fasting and prayer. At the close of this day, which was usually held on the seventh of Adar, date of Moses' death, a seudah or festive meal was organized for them.
At the heart of the society's function is the ritual of tahara, or purification. The body is first thoroughly cleansed of dirt, body fluids and solids, and anything else that may be on the skin, and then it is ritually purified by immersion in, or a continuous flow of, water from the head over the entire body. Tahara may refer to either the entire process, or to the ritual purification. Once the body is purified, the body is dressed in tachrichim, or shrouds, of white pure muslin or linen garments made up of ten pieces for a male and twelve for a female, which are identical for each Jew and which symbolically recalls the garments worn by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Once the body is dressed, the casket is closed. When being buried in Israel, however, a casket is not used.
Tahara, the rite of the ritual washing of a corpse before burial, is derived from the biblical injunction: "As he came so shall he go". When man is born he is washed and when he dies he is washed (taken from Koheleth 5:5 and 5:15). The Mishnah mentions the practice of washing the body. The ceremony of Tahara, as well as other burial details, is not mentioned in the Torah.
The association that is organized to perform this service is appropriately named Chevra Kadisha, the Holy Society. It was one of the first associations to be established in the traditional Jewish community of the past. Membership in the Chevra Kadisha has always been considered a unique privilege. The members must be Sabbath observers, of high moral character, and conversant with the laws and customs that are the responsibility of the office they occupy.
The society was already known in Talmudic times. Even scholars and sages did not consider it beneath their dignity to attend to the dead. Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi in 1564 in Prague laid the foundation of an efficient burial society that became the model of all similar bodies. During the Middle Ages it became customary for the Chevra Kadisha to devote one day each year to fasting and prayer. At the close of this day, which was usually held on the seventh of Adar, date of Moses' death, a seudah or festive meal was organized for them.
At the heart of the society's function is the ritual of tahara, or purification. The body is first thoroughly cleansed of dirt, body fluids and solids, and anything else that may be on the skin, and then it is ritually purified by immersion in, or a continuous flow of, water from the head over the entire body. Tahara may refer to either the entire process, or to the ritual purification. Once the body is purified, the body is dressed in tachrichim, or shrouds, of white pure muslin or linen garments made up of ten pieces for a male and twelve for a female, which are identical for each Jew and which symbolically recalls the garments worn by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Once the body is dressed, the casket is closed. When being buried in Israel, however, a casket is not used.
Tahara, the rite of the ritual washing of a corpse before burial, is derived from the biblical injunction: "As he came so shall he go". When man is born he is washed and when he dies he is washed (taken from Koheleth 5:5 and 5:15). The Mishnah mentions the practice of washing the body. The ceremony of Tahara, as well as other burial details, is not mentioned in the Torah.