A family member of a Jewish friend passed away. What is an appropriate gift to give to a Jewish family to pay respects?
Bring or send food or a fruit basket. They can share it during shivah.
A family member of a Jewish friend passed away. What is an appropriate gift to give to a Jewish family to pay respects?
Bring or send food or a fruit basket. They can share it during shivah.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Bring or send food or a fruit basket. They can share it during shivah.
References :
July 30th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Bring or send food. If it’s prepared food of any kind, such as baked goods, it would be an especial courtesy to make sure it is labeled Kosher. (You may have to look very carefully in the "fine print".)
Don’t send cut flowers, it’s not the Jewish custom to "kill" flowers to honor our dead.
The best thing would be to pay the family a visit during the shiva week, if you can.
References :
Me, Conservative Jew
July 30th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
You’ve gotten some good answers. When I make a shiva call, I bring food (making sure that it is either kosher or at least acceptable to the family). At the very least, do make that shiva call. Your presence at this time will be most welcome.
References :
Reconstructionist Jew – raised Conservative
(have had shivas in the past – my parents – and made shiva calls)
July 30th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Bringing food is acceptable and the most appropriate because around that time, Traditional Jews who are mourning(if they lost a close relative) usually don’t cook and leave it up to family members and neighbors. So bringing some food would be wonderful. If they are Traditional Jews, chances are, they are following Kosher laws, so take that into consideration when buying food. Remember the key symbols to look for on the food packages:
http://yeahthatskosher.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kosher-certification.jpg
Any of these will do.
References :