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My mother died a month ago. What is the significance of the 'shloshim', and what is the significance of it being the 30th day of mourning, and not the 45th or 600th?
Answer:
We find in the Torah thirty days as a period of mourning for someone who is very special. Aharon the High Priest who was very beloved by the children of Israel was mourned for thirty days, as recorded in Numbers 20:29.
According to Kabbalah there are three spiritual "worlds" involved in the development of creation and the descent of the soul down to earth - Briyah ("Creation"), Yetzirah ("Formation"), and Asiyah ("Action"). Each of these "worlds" has ten sefirot/levels (see What are the ten sefirot and what is their purpose?).
Therefore when the soul departs this world it goes thru 30 steps of elevation (3 "worlds" times 10 sefirot) - which is the reason for the thirty day period specifically.
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