After the Burial

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  1. At the conclusion of the burial, the seven-day mourning period begins.
  2. If the deceased is being sent to another country, the mourning begins after taking leave of the deceased, except for those who are going along with the deceased.
  3. At some point the mourners remove their shoes. Some have the custom to wait until coming home before removing their shoes. (Some say that those who do not remove their shoes until later should put some earth into their shoes.)
  4. Tzidduk Hadin is recited, and the mourners then recite a kaddish prayer.
  5. Upon leaving the cemetery, everyone should:
    1. lift up some earth (to remind ourselves that we are compared to earth, and that our end is in the earth)
    2. a. and some grass (to demonstrate that the dead will sprout back to life when the dead are resurrected [Techiyas Hameisim]), and throw it behind themselves
  6. The hands have to be washed three times afterwards.One should not enter a private home before this hand washing. The cup should not be handed to one another-to show that we do not hand sadness over to another person, but rather it is placed on the ground with the opening turned downward to indicate that all life eventually comes to an end.
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