Askmoses-A Jews Resource
Why do supervision agencies supervise products that do not need a hechsher?
Browse our archives

The Scholar is ready to answer your question. Click the button below to chat now.

Scholar Online:

Type in your question here:

How long are torn clothing worn as a sign of mourning?

  

Library » Life Cycle » Death » Mourning | Subscribe | What is RSS?

PRINT EMAIL COMMENT

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik: Hi! How may I be of assistance?

Fiona: hi, my grandfather passed away last week

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik: my condolences. must have been a hard week for you.

Fiona: very hard

Fiona: he was a great Tzaddik

Fiona: and my mother has been wearing the torn clothing

Fiona: she is wondering if to wear it past the shivah or through the shloshim?

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik: only until the shivah ends.1

Fiona: thats what I thought but we were not sure

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik: okay.

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik: may you only have happiness from now on.

Fiona: thank you

All names, places, and identifying information have been changed or deleted in order to protect the privacy of the questioners. In order to preserve authenticity, the chat sessions have been posted with a minimum of editing. Please excuse typographical errors, missing punctuation, and/or grammatical mistakes which naturally occur in the course of informal chat sessions.

Footnotes

  • 1. For reasons of dignity and modesty, a woman may baste the clothing that was torn as soon after the funeral as she wishes. When mourning a parent, a man may baste his clothing only after thirty days. But neither son nor daughter may ever permanently sew these clothes. When mourning other relatives the clothes may be basted after the shiva, and sewn completely after the Shloshim.

ADD A COMMENT

Please email me when new comments are posted (you must be  logged in).
Tzaddik
(fem. Tzidkanit; pl. Tzaddikim). A saint, or righteous person.
shloshim
Literally means "thirty." Usually a reference to the thirty day mourning period observed by immediate family after the death of a relative.