yahrzeit

The word Yahrzeit is a borrowing from the Yiddish {{Transliteration|yi|yortsayt}} ({{Lang|yi|יאָרצײַט}}), ultimately from the Middle High German {{Lang|gmh|jārzīt}}. It is a doublet of the English word yeartide.{{r|oed}} Use of the word to refer to a Jewish death anniversary dates to at least the 15th century, appearing in the writings of {{ill|Shalom of Neustadt|he|שלום מנוישטאדט}},{{r|lehnardt}} Isaac of Tyrnau,{{r|JE}} and Moses Mintz.{{r|oxford}} Mordecai Jafe also uses the term in his 1612 work Levush ha-Tekehlet.{{cite book|first=Mordecai|last=Jafe|title=Levush ha-Tekehlet|at=§133}}

Though of Yiddish origin, many Sephardic and Mizraḥi communities adopted the word,{{r|EJ}}{{cite book|last1=Molho|first1=M.|last2=Zara|first2=A. A.|last3=Bedford|first3=R.|title=Traditions & Customs of the Sephardic Jews of Salonica|publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture|year=2006|isbn=978-1-886857-08-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nq4sAQAAIAAJ}}{{cite web|title=Meldado: Jewish Memorial Services and the Boundaries of Sacred Space|date=2019|website=Exploring Sephardic Life Cycle Customs|publisher=Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, University of Washington|url=https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/sephardic-life-cycles/meldado-memorial-sacred-space|access-date=November 29, 2023}}{{r|zafrani}} which likely spread through rabbinic literature. Variants of the word are found in Judeo-Arabic (yarṣayt or yarṣyat), Ladino, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Tajik, and Judeo-Tat.{{r|benor_hary}} Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad notes a once-common false etymology of the word as a Hebrew acronym.{{cite book|author=Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad|author-link=Yosef Hayyim|title=Ben Ish Ḥai|chapter=Halaḥot, Year 1: Vayeḥi|language=he|chapter-url=https://www.sefaria.org/Ben_Ish_Hai%2C_Halachot_1st_Year%2C_Vayechi.14.1|at=14|date=1894–1898}} Other names for the commemoration include naḥalah ({{Lang|he|נחלה}}) in Hebrew, meldado and anyos in Ladino, and sāl ({{Lang|fa|سال}}) in Judeo-Persian.

The tradition of commemorating a death anniversary in Judaism has ancient origins. During the Talmudic era, it was common to observe the date of a father's or teacher's death by fasting, or by abstaining from consuming meat and wine.{{Cite Talmud|b|Nedarim||12a}} The Gemara's discussion{{Cite Talmud|b|Shevuot||20a}} suggests that this was a voluntary practice in accordance with the directive to honour one's father "while alive and after his death."{{Cite Talmud|b|Kiddushin||31b:10}} Rashi notes that it was customary to gather around the grave of a distinguished individual on the anniversary of his death.Rashi on Yevamot 122a.

The modern practice of observing Yahrzeit for parents likely originated among the Jewish communities of medieval Germany, later being adopted by Sephardic Jews.{{r|JE}}

{{see also|Bereavement in Judaism|Yahrzeit candle|Yom Hillula}}

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Yahrzeit is typically observed on the anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar of the date of death of an immediate family member or outstanding individual.{{r|EJ}} Some authorities hold that when an individual was not buried within two days of their death, the first Yahrzeit is instead held on the anniversary of their burial.{{cite web|website=Orthodox Union|title=Yahrzeit|first=Richard B.|last=Aiken|date=12 May 2016 |url=https://outorah.org/p/29736/|access-date=November 29, 2023}} There are also exceptions when the date falls on Rosh Ḥodesh or in a leap year of the Hebrew calendar:{{cite web|first=Maurice|last=Lamm|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281636/jewish/Yahrzeit-Memorial-Anniversary.htm|title=Yahrzeit: Memorial Anniversary|work=The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning|publisher=Chabad.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917154539/http://www.chabad.org/|archive-date=September 17, 2011}}

When commemorated by an immediate relative, the day is marked by two main practices: reciting the Mourner's Kaddish, and lighting the Yahrzeit candle, which is kept burning for twenty-four hours. Other customs including being called up to the public reading of the Torah or reciting the Haftara on the preceding Shabbat,{{r|oxford}}{{r|britannica}} and sponsoring a synagogue Kiddush in honour of the deceased.{{r|raphael}} A lightbulb by the name of the deceased may be lit on the synagogue's Yahrzeit board.{{r|kaye}} Historically, fasting was also a common practice.{{r|JE}}

According to some sources, the Yahrzeit candle holds Kabbalistic significance. Aaron Berechiah of Modena likens the burning wick in the candle to the soul in the body, citing the Proverb "man's soul is the candle of God."{{Bibleverse|Proverbs|2:27|he}} He notes furthermore that the numerical value of {{lang|he|נר דלוק}} ('burning candle') is equivalent to that of {{lang|he|השכינה}} ('the Shekhinah').{{cite book|title=Ma'abar Yabboḳ|author=Aaron Berechiah of Modena}}{{cite book|title=Sefat Emet|volume=15|at=94b|location=Amsterdam|date=1732}} Other scholars posit that the candle-lighting tradition may have Christian origins.{{r|lehnardt}}{{cite book|first=Moritz|last=Güdemann|title=Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der Juden in Deutschland während des XIV. und XV. Jahrhunderts|language=de|volume=3|location=Vienna|date=1888|page=132}}

Some communities, especially Sephardim in the Land of Israel, were initially opposed to reciting the Mourner's Kaddish after the first eleven months following a death, contending that it would cast a negative light on the departed. Isaac Luria offered an alternative perspective, explaining that "while the orphan's Kaddish within the eleven months helps the soul to pass from Gehinnom to Gan Eden, the Yahrzeit Kaddish elevates the soul every year to a higher sphere in paradise."{{cite book|first=Abraham|last=Lewysohn|title=Meḳore Minhagim|at=§98|location=Berlin|date=1846}} Menasseh ben Israel also adopts this perspective.{{cite book|author=Menasseh ben Israel|title=Nishmat Ḥayyim|volume=2|at=27|location=Amsterdam|date=1652}}

Ḥasidic Jews traditionally celebrate the Yahrzeit of their respective rabbis with song, dance, and general rejoicing, resulting in a shift from the originally mournful nature of the celebration to an occasion of joyous festivity.{{cite book|first=A.|last=Bolechower|title=Shem Aryeh|at=§14}} The Mitnaggedim vehemently objected to this innovation.{{r|JE}}

The most widely-observed Yahrzeit are on the Seventh of Adar I, the anniversary of Moses' death; Lag ba-Omer, the Yahrzeit of Simeon ben Yoḥai, observed at his tomb in Meron since at least the 16th century;{{r|oxford}} and the Fast of Gedalia, the date of Gedaliah ben Ahikam's assassination.{{r|EJ}}

A Yahrzeit celebration in honour of Meïr Ba'al ha-Nes is held in Tiberias on the 15th of Iyyar. In Morocco, annual pilgrimages are made to the tombs of Isaac ben Walid and Haïm Pinto on the anniversaries of their deaths. Until the Second World War, the Yahrzeit of Moses Isserles was observed in Cracow on the 18th of Iyyar.

In the State of Israel, the Yahrzeits of national figures are observed as holidays, such as Ben-Gurion Day, Herzl Day, Jabotinsky Day, and Rabin Day.

• Bereavement in Judaism

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Jahrzeit|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8501-jahrzeit|first1=Cyrus|last1=Adler|first2=Judah David|last2=Eisenstein|volume=7|page=63–64}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite encyclopedia|title=Yahrzeit|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=2013|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/yahrzeit|access-date=November 27, 2023}}

{{cite EJ|title=Yahrzeit|first=Louis Isaac|last=Rabinowitz|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/yahrzeit}}

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Jahrzeit|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8501-jahrzeit|first1=Cyrus|last1=Adler|first2=Judah David|last2=Eisenstein|volume=7|page=63–64|no-prescript=1}}

{{cite book|last=Kaye|first=Terry|title=The Jewish Mourner's Handbook|location=Springfield, N.J.|publisher=Behrman House|year=1992|isbn=978-0-87441-528-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IO_9D3BPXUwC&pg=PA58|pages=56–58}}

{{cite book|chapter=Christian Influences on the Yahrzeit Qaddish|first=Andreas|last=Lehnardt|editor-first=Stefan C.|editor-last=Reif|editor2-first=Andreas|editor2-last=Lehnardt|editor3-first=Avriel|editor3-last=Bar-Levav|title=Death in Jewish Life: Burial and Mourning Customs Among Jews of Europe and Nearby Communities|date=2014|isbn=978-3-11-033918-5|publisher=De Gruyter|doi=10.1515/9783110339185.65|pages=65–78|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvbkjvh6.10|jstor=j.ctvbkjvh6.10}}

{{Cite OED|Yahrzeit|231129}}

{{cite book|last=Berlin|first=A.|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-973004-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA782|page=782}}

{{cite book |last1=Benor | first1=Sarah Bunin|last2=Hary | first2=Benjamin|chapter=A Research Agenda for Comparative Jewish Linguistic Studies| title=Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present | publisher=De Gruyter | series=Contributions to the Sociology of Language|volume=112 | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-5015-0455-6 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFk8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT609|doi=10.1515/9781501504631|pages=682–683| s2cid=239900533}}

{{cite book|last=Raphael|first=S. P.|title=Jewish Views of the Afterlife|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2019|isbn=978-1-5381-0346-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESOJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA390|page=390}}

{{cite book|last=Weinreich|first=Uriel|title=Modern English-Yiddish Dictionary|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|year=1987|isbn=978-0-8052-0575-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1M6ImTy1xFAC&pg=PA589|language=en,yi|page=205}}

{{cite book|last=Zafrani|first=Haïm|title=Deux mille ans de vie juive au Maroc: histoire et culture, religion et magie|publisher=Maisonneuve & Larose|year=1998|isbn=978-9981-09-018-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39Y_RxaUiFQC&pg=PA115|language=fr|page=115}}

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Category:Bereavement in Judaism

Category:Yiddish words and phrases

Category:Observances honoring the dead