sit shiva
Observe Jewish mourning
Sit shiva is the Jewish practice of formal mourning observed for seven days after a close relative's burial.
Mourners stay home, receive visitors, and follow prescribed rituals of grief.
The Hebrew *shiva* means seven.
We sat shiva for my grandmother last week.
The practice has entered broader English as a metaphor for any period of intense mourning or dwelling on loss.
- mournGrieve for the dead
- yahrzeitAnnual death anniversary observance
- prayerAddress to deity
- chairSingle-person sitting furniture
- covering mirrorsConcealing reflective surfaces
house of mourning · paying respects · funeral rites · candle · kosher food · bereavement · lamentation · ritual washing · seven days · condolence · comfort · hand · emotional healing · sorrow · remembrance · minyan · table · tear
sit shivacelebrate
Honor through festivity
rejoice · bar mitzvah · wedding · bat mitzvah · simcha
sit shivareturn to work
Resume employment after absence
go about one's business · funeral service · burial · memorial service · wake
sit shivago out
Leave one's dwelling
work · socialize · carry on · move forward