For over thirty years Jews have turned to Rabbi Maurice Lamm's classic work for direction and consolation. Selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best religious books of the year when it was first published in 1969, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning leads the family and friends of the deceased through the most difficult chapter of life-from the moment of death through the funeral service, the burial, and the various periods of mourning.


Now, in this thoroughly revised and expanded edition, Rabbi Lamm explores a wide range of new issues and questions that Jews of the twenty-first century must address. Special consideration is given to the subjects of organ donation, autopsy, the question of a woman's right to say Kaddish, mourning practices as they relate to the stillborn, the permissibility of converts to Judaism to mourn their Gentile parents, and the bereavement rights of individuals who by Jewish law are not required to mourn but who nonetheless wish to express their grief in accordance with Jewish tradition.


In addition to exploring the sensitive issues that the contemporary mourner must confront, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning is remarkable in that it gently leads the mourner through the corridors of Jewish law and teaches the aching heart how to express its pain in love and respect so that it might begin on the road to eventual healing.