Jewish Funeral Service Explanation

Northwood Funeral Home & Crematory is a non-denominational funeral home located in West Palm Beach, Florida. We can assist you with all your funeral needs in the Jewish faith, whether you're Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. We are able to coordinate your services with local synagogues and cemeteries, and we also have local rabbis willing to officiate your services and customize it to your personal needs. Northwood Funeral Home also has a working relationship with the local Chevra Kadisha and can accomodate all customs of the Jewish faith. The traditional services of the Chevra Kadisha are all performed on site, maintaining all Jewish law throughout the burial process.

Traditionally, the avelim, in a Jewish funeral service, are the parents, children, and siblings of the deceased. Nihum avelim is the role that others have in comforting the mourners. In a Jewish funeral, there will be no open casket. Mourners and comforters gather and may perform a variety of customary forms of mourning and comforting. Some Jewish funerals will incorporate all traditions, while some will only incorporate a few. Northwood Funeral Home is a Jewish funeral provider in the West Palm Beach/North Palm beach area who can consult with you and your family and your rabbi to determine which rituals and customs you’ll incorporate. We can assist you with:

• Gathering of the avelim and the nihum avelim.
  Keriah (or tearing). One of the rituals that may take place in Jewish funeral is the tearing of garments to express grief at the loss of a loved one. This ancient ritual symbolizes the separation of the deceased from the family and offers a physical manifestation of the family’s grief.
• Eulogy (hesperid). This is a written speech usually read by the rabbi, meant to comfort the family, though a rabbi need not be the one performing the eulogy.
• Prayers.
• Procession to the grave and the lowering of the casket with more grave site prayers.
• Kaddish. During the kaddish more prayers are recited over the grave.
• Placing earth over the grave.
• Shiva. The shiva is the period of morning after burial. Traditionally, shiva takes place in the family’s home and the family doesn’t emerge from the home until the 7-day period of mourning has passed.