Hardcover

The loss of a family member brings mourning, tears, sadness. It is at this sorrowful time that we find ourselves clinging more than ever to the Torah, and specifically to the laws and customs of mourning. And it is at this time that we need answers to our questions on the halachos of mourning - sometimes very urgently.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen has mastered the art of explaining halachah in a way that can be immediately and clearly understood. For laymen, and especially for those who need a quick and definitive answer to their questions, this beautifully structured book takes the mourner from moments before the death of a loved one, through aninus, the funeral, the various stages of mourning, Kaddish, and up through the first yahrzeit. The concepts related to the halachah are clearly defined, and the halachah is presented concisely, so the reader immediately knows what to do. For those who want to study further, Hebrew footnotes show sources and discuss other opinions, and a detailed index makes it easy to find specific topics and questions.

Does a person who'd been an onen have to make up the tefillos he missed, when the levayah is over? What is the special zimun said by mourners? May a person in the year of aveilus invite others for a Shabbos meal? Attend a grandson's bar mitzvah? Can a student send his teacher mishloach manos during the teacher's year of mourning? Case after case, question after question: Here are the answers, set out simply and with great clarity.

We should not know of sorrow, but when mourning comes upon us we can turn to the Laws of Aveilus, and be comforted by our Torah.