Chevra kadisha

Two of the main requirements are the showing of proper respect for a corpse, and the ritual cleansing of the body and subsequent dressing for burial.

Many burial societies hold one or two annual fast days and organise regular study sessions to remain up-to-date with the relevant articles of Jewish law.

In addition, most burial societies also support families during the shiva (traditional week of mourning) by arranging prayer services, meals and other facilities.

[5] In standard Hebrew, "sacred society" would be written חבורה קדושה ḥavurā qədošā, while in Aramaic, חבורתא קדישתא ḥavurtā qaddišṯā.

The Aramaic phrase is first attested in Yekum Purkan, in a 13th-century copy of Machzor Vitry, but it was rarely used again in print until it gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century.

Hevra Kadisha for Sefaradim , the Or-Hachaim Gate
Chevra kadisha medal from 1876, on the occasion of the 200-year jubilee of the chevra kadisha of Gailingen . In the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland .