![Jewish grave candle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Jewish_grave_candle.JPG)
Hazkarat Neshamot (), commonly known by its opening word Yizkor (), is an
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
memorial prayer service for the dead. It is important occasion for many Jews, even those who do not attend synagogue regularly. In most Ashkenazi communities, it is held after the
Torah reading
Torah reading (; ') is a Judaism, Jewish religion, religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Sefer Torah, Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) fro ...
four times a year: on
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
, on the final day of
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...
, on the second day of
Shavuot
(''Ḥag HaShavuot'' or ''Shavuos'')
, nickname = English: "Feast of Weeks"
, observedby = Jews and Samaritans
, type = Jewish and Samaritan
, begins = 6th day of Sivan (or the Sunday following the 6th day of Sivan i ...
, and on
Shemini Atzeret
Shemini Atzeret (—"Eighth ay of
Ay, AY or variants, may refer to:
People
* Ay (pharaoh), a pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty
* Merneferre Ay, a pharaoh of the 13th Egyptian dynasty
* A.Y. (musician) (born 1981), a Tanzanian "bongo flava" artist
* A.Y, stage name of Ayo Makun ...
Assembly") is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Tishrei in the Land of Israel, and on the 22nd and 23rd outside the Land, usually coi ...
.
In
Sephardic
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
custom there is no Yizkor prayer, but the ''
hashkavot'' serve a similar role in the service.
Origin
![Yizkor1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Yizkor1.jpg)
The earliest source of Yizkor is the
Midrash Tanchuma
Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of ...
, which mentions the custom of remembering the deceased and pledging charity on their behalf on Yom Kippur. The service was popularized amid the
persecution of Jews
The persecution of Jews has been a major event in Jewish history, prompting shifting waves of refugees and the formation of diaspora communities. As early as 605 BCE, Jews who lived in the Neo-Babylonian Empire were persecuted and deported. ...
during the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
.
Customs
It is customary for those with both parents alive to leave the main sanctuary during the Yizkor service, out of respect or superstition. It is usually not attended within the first year of
mourning
Mourning is the expression of an experience that is the consequence of an event in life involving loss, causing grief, occurring as a result of someone's death, specifically someone who was loved although loss from death is not exclusively ...
, until the first ''
yahrzeit
Bereavement in Judaism () is a combination of ''minhag'' and ''mitzvah'' derived from the Torah and Judaism's classical rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community.
Mourners
In Judaism, the p ...
'' has passed. The Yizkor prayers are intended to be recited in a synagogue with a
minyan
In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...
; if one is unable to be with a minyan, one can recite it without one. Still, this practice is a custom and historically not regarded to be obligatory.
In some congregations, Yizkor begins with responsive verses and may also include Psalm 91.
In addition to personal Yizkor prayers, there are also often collective prayers for
martyrs
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
and for victims of the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, and an appeal for charity. The service concludes with the prayer ''
El male raḥamim''.
Yahrzeit candle
A yahrzeit candle, also spelled yahrtzeit candle or called a memorial candle, ( he, נר נשמה, ''ner neshama'', meaning "soul candle"; yi, יאָרצײַט ליכט , meaning "anniversary candle") is a type of candle that is lit in memo ...
s are commonly lit on the days when Yizkor is recited.
Notes
References
External links
Text of Yizkorat
Sefaria
Sefaria is an online open source, free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer. Calling itself "a living library of Jewish texts", Sefar ...
{{Jewish prayers
Bereavement in Judaism
Jewish prayer and ritual texts
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish prayers and blessings
Passover
Shavuot
Shemini Atzeret
Yom Kippur