A Jewish person is not buried in his or her usual clothing. Similarly, jewelry or other adornments are not worn.

As discussed earlier, one's soul and its spiritual rectification is far more important following death than any honor he could possibly get from his association with earthly possessions. Thus, the Jewish funeral emphasizes the spiritual and sublime over the physical and material.

According to Jewish tradition, a deceased's body is dressed in plain white Tachrichim (traditional shrouds). These garments are hand-made from linen or muslin and are considered fitting for someone who is about to stand before G-d in judgment.

Another reason given is that using simple shrouds ensures that those who cannot afford fancy clothing are not "embarrassed" that they do not have any.

In addition to Tachrichim, a man is also buried in his Tallit (prayer shawl). The Tallit should be given to the Chevra Kaddisha before they prepare the body for burial. In the case that a man did not have his Tallit, the funeral home will usually provide one.

Once the body is purified, it is then dressed in tachrichim, or "shrouds", white garments which are identical for each Jew and which symbolically recall the robes worn by the High Priest. A male is then wrapped, preferably in his own tallit; the tzitzit are cut off to show that the dead person is no longer bound by the mitzvot of the Torah. Shards of pottery, representing the destruction of the Temple, are placed on the eyes and mouth of the deceased. Earth from Israel is scattered throughout the casket, as well as on the eyes and heart of the deceased, representing the Jew's tie to the biblical Land of Israel. The earth is also sprinkled on a man's genitals, invoking his covenant with God through circumcision.

Judaism's preparation for burial — a ritual known as tahara (purification) — demands that respect for the body and the soul extend beyond death. The Chevra Kadisha quietly and privately washes, purifies and dresses the deceased in white linen shrouds tied with knots in the shape of the Hebrew letter shin, the first letter of one of the holy names for God. Chevra Kadisha members also recite lyrical prayers as a way of bearing witness to the last of life's passages. After burial society members have gently lowered the body into its casket, they gather around it and ask the deceased to forgive them for any unintentional lack of respect during the tahara. The casket is closed and remains so until burial.

As he came, so shall he go," says Ecclesiastes. Just as a newborn child is immediately washed and enters this world clean and pure, so he who departs this world must be cleansed and made pure through the religious ritual called taharah (purification).

The taharah is performed by the Chevra Kadisha (the Holy Society, i.e. the Burial Society), consisting of Jews who are knowledgeable in the area of traditional duties, and can display proper respect for the deceased. In addition to the physical cleansing and preparation of the body for burial, they also recite the required prayers asking Almighty God for forgiveness for any sins the deceased may have committed, and praying that the All-Merciful may guard him and grant him eternal peace. Membership in the Chevra Kadisha has always been considered a great communal honor bestowed only upon those who are truly pious. Non-Jews, under no circumstances, should perform these sacred tasks of preparing the body, for the ritual of taharah is by no means a merely hygienic performance. It is a Jewish religious act. 

Most well organized communities offer the services a sacred burial society (Chevra Kaddisha), which will prepare the body for burial. Men prepare men and women prepare women. They wash the body with warm water from head to foot and, although they may turn the body as necessary to clean it entirely, including all orifices, they never place it face down. The body is dressed in white burial shrouds (tachrichim), which are purposely kept simple to avoid distinguishing between rich or poor. Men are buried with their prayer shawls (tallits), which are rendered ineffective by cutting off one of the fringes. If, however, a person suffered an injury and blood soaked into his or her clothing, ritual washing is not completed. "...the blood of a person is considered as holy as his life and deserves proper burial," Greenberg writes. From the moment of death, the body is not left alone until after burial. This practice, called guarding/watching (shemira), is also based on the principle of honoring the dead. A family member, a Chevra Kaddisha member, or someone arranged by the funeral parlor passes the time by reciting psalms (Tehillim) as this person watches over the deceased.

Jewish tradition recognizes the democracy of death. It therefore demands that all Jews be buried in the same type of garment. Wealthy or poor, all are equal before G-d, and that which determines their reward is not what they wear, but what they are. Nineteen hundred years ago, Rabbi Gamaliel instituted this practice so that the poor would not be shamed and the wealthy would not vie with each other in displaying the costliness of the burial clothes.

The clothes to be worn should be appropriate for one who is shortly to stand in judgment before God Almighty, Master of the universe and Creator of man. Therefore, they should be simple, handmade, perfectly clean, and white. These shrouds symbolize purity, simplicity, and dignity. Shrouds have no pockets. They, therefore, can carry no material wealth. Not a man's possessions but his soul is of importance. The burial society or funeral director has a ready supply of such shrouds available. If time must elapse before they can be obtained, the funeral should be delayed, as they are considered very important.

Shrouds may be made of muslin, cotton or linen. The rule of thumb is that one should not go to greater expense than the cost of linen, but a less expensive cloth may be used.

The deceased should then be wrapped in his tallit-regardless of whether or not it is expensive, or how new it is. One of the fringes should be cut. One who was not observant, and unaccustomed to wearing a tallit may, if so desired, be buried in one purchased specifically for this purpose. The family of the deceased should decide the matter in this case.

The traditional clothing for burying the dead are tahrihim, simple white shrouds. Their use dates back to Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel II, who, in the second century CE, asked to be buried in inexpensive linen garments. According to the Talmud, Rabban Gamliel observed that the custom of dressing the deceased in expensive clothing put such a terrible burden on the relatives of the deceased, that they would "abandon the body and run."[1]

The custom he initiated - which set both a decorous minimum and a limit on ostentation - has been followed by observant Jews ever since. "Whoever heaps elaborate shrouds upon the dead transgresses the injunction against wanton destruction. Such a one disgraces the deceased."[2] The universal use of shrouds protected the poor from embarrassment at not being able to afford lavish burial clothes. Since shrouds have no pockets, wealth or status cannot be expressed or acknowledged in death. In every generation, these garments reaffirmed a fundamental belief in human equality.

Shrouds are white and entirely hand-stitched. They are made without buttons, zippers, or fasteners. Tahrihim come in muslin or linen, fabrics that recall the garments of the ancient Hebrew priesthood. There is little difference in appearance or cost between them; the funeral home may or may not offer a choice. Tahrihim come packaged in sets for men and women. Regardless of gender, they include shirt, pants, a head covering, and a belt. Men may also be wrapped in a kittel, a simple, white ceremonial jacket that some Jews wear on Yom Kippur, at the Passover seder, and under the wedding canopy.

If the body has been prepared for burial with ritual cleansing (taharah), the body will automatically be dressed in tahrihim. Jewish funeral homes and burial societies (hevra kadishas) in general have a supply on hand, and the cost may be covered by their honorarium.

In addition to tahrihim, some Jews are wrapped in the prayer shawl (tallit) in which they prayed. Every tallit is tied with four sets of knotted fringes (tzizit), which symbolize the commandment (mitzvot) incumbent upon Jews. Before the tallit is placed on a body for burial, however, one of the sets of fringes is cut to demonstrate that the person is no longer bound by the religious obligations of the living. When only men wore tallitot, only men were buried in them; today, any woman who wore a prayer shawl during her lifetime — an increasingly common custom — is accorded the same treatment in many communities.

Tahrihim swaddle the entire body, including the face, so that the deceased is both clothed and protected against the gaze of other people. If shrouds are used, the body is placed in the coffin, which is then closed. In Israel, it is customary to bury the deceased (except soldiers) without a coffin.

The shrouds are fashioned after the garments that the high priest wore in the temple on Yom Kippur, and they're white, usually made of linen, hand-sewn with no knots so that they will disintegrate easily. They also have no hems to signify the impermanence, and no pockets, so that you take no worldly goods with you. And everybody, rich or poor, young or old, religious or nonreligious, are all buried in the same garments.

And then the body finally is placed in the casket and wrapped in a large sheet, which creates almost a cocoonlike image. And there is a sense of protectiveness as the person enters the world to come.

We sprinkle earth from Israel at the bottom of the casket before we place the body in there, and after the deceased is completely shrouded, we place it on the eyes and on the heart, and that is our connection with our homeland.

* The body is clothed in a white linen shroud and not street clothes. Shrouds are sewn without knots, and are a multiple piece garment. In earlier times, the sisterhoods or women's auxiliaries used to make shrouds for their community; this practice may still occur in traditional communities. Today, virtually all (Jewish) mortuaries carry shrouds, the prices vary. This is done because of a rabbinic decree of around 1800 years ago. People were spending more than they could afford on funeral expenses because no one wanted to show the deceased, typically a parent, less honor than others showed their loved ones. So, Rabban Gamliel, the "prince" of the Jewish community of the time (and therefore his estate would be quite wealthy), demanded that he be buried in simple white linen, and that this become the custom for everyone. He patterned this clothing after that worn by the High Priest in the Temple on Yom Kippur. If G-d asks the High Priest to enter the Holy of Holies and confront the Divine Presence in simple white linen garments, it seems fitting to do the same when preparing someone to meet their Maker. To this very day, we bury people in a hat, shirt (kittel), pants, belt -- all of plain white linen, if a man, his tallis, and simplified (and ritualized) shoes. No pockets, since you can't take it with you. And the belt isn't knotted, for Kabbalistic reasons.

Dressing for the final Yom Kippur

The neshama is about to face its final Judgement Day and clothes don't matter-good deeds do. That's why every Jew is buried exactly alike. In a handmade, simple, perfectly clean, white linen shroud which includes a white linen hat, shirt, pants, shoes, coat and belt. Men are dressed in a tallis (prayer shawl). The shrouds have no pockets to accentuate the fact that no worldly belongings accompany him. The shrouds are modeled after the white uniform worn by the High Priest in the Holy Temple on Yom Kippur when he stood before G-d asking for the needs of his family and the entire Jewish People. These shrouds are therefore especially appropriate because each and every neshama asks for the needs of his or her family on the final Judgement Day.

There is no place in this article to explain each minute custom and its origin and significance. However, as an example, let me cite two main themes: The first is that Judaism is predicated on the belief in an afterlife where men and women will receive their ultimate eternal reward after appearing before G-d for their final judgment, in essence their final Yom Kippur. Is it not then fascinating to know that the traditional burial shroud is designed to be exactly like the clothing worn by the High Priest for his Yom Kippur service, before G-d, in the Bais Hamikdosh, our holy Temple? Doesn't it make sense to carefully wash and clean, and yes, ritually purify, all Jews before their final Yom Kippur, when they are soon to appear before the heavenly court?

Only thusly shall Aaron enter into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the sanctified white linen tunic, and have linen pants on his flesh. He shall gird himself with a linen sash, and bind his head with a linen turban. These are sacred vestments; before putting them on, he must immerse himself. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself, and he shall make atonement for himself and for his family... " (Leviticus 16)

Leviticus 16:4 (NASB)
4	"He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on.

The white garments

Only on the Day of Atonement would the High Priest wear the white garments: tunic, belt, turban and pants. This signifies that the High Priest came before God within the Most Holy Place humbly and simply. He did not come in the outward splendor of gold and rich colors, but in pure white. Furthermore, white is the color of forgiveness, and forgiveness is what the High Priest is seeking for himself and all Israel as he came before the Ark.

Tachrichim, in Hebrew is tet-chaf-resh-yud-chaf. The root, chaf-resh-chaf, means to bind, enwrap, surround. Tachrich means a robe.  In "late" bibilical Hebrew, kerech meant scroll. It appears in Esther 8:15:

"And Mordechai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a -wrap- of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor."  (That last verse is one we recite in Havdallah every week.)

The tet in front of the root is either a future, or a command form--"you will wrap."

The takhrikhim are the burial shrouds. The word takhrikhim is from the root “krkh”, to wrap. They represent the garments of the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest in the Temple. (Tripp, 1980, p.326) The garments are first described in Exodus 28 as “vestments of sanctity” for Aaron and his sons, the first Kohanim. The fabric for takhrikhim is one where the laws of shaatnez (prohibition against mixed fibers, of wool and linen or wool and cotton) do not apply. The dead are freed from all obligation to observe the mitzvot. “When a person dies, he is freed from carrying out the commandments” (Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Batra 17a). The laws that apply to the living therefore do not apply to the dead (Kolatch, 1993, p.35). The Zohar states that in the World to Come the righteous will be dressed in the Haluka de-Rabbanan (Robe of the Sages). “This heavenly robe is woven of the mitzvot (good deeds) that were performed by the deceased during his or her life” (Weiner, 1999, p.41). The burial shrouds worn by the physical body are the garments corresponding to this mystical garb of the soul. The fabric, always white, can be linen or cotton or a muslin/cotton blend. The garments should have no knots and neither should the thread used to stitch the garments be tied in knots.

The intertwining, fastening, and securing that knot tying implies is entirely contrary to the releasing that is a primary symbolic focus of taharah. Ancient superstitions reflected a belief that tying of knots invited difficulties and problems and should therefore be avoided. Such potential debilitation is reflected in adages such as “my stomach is in knots”, and “a knotty problem.”  Certainly the transition from this world to the next could be adversely affected by such a powerful influence. Thus knots, with their potential to adversely affect people’s lives, were forbidden to be used in any aspect of the making of burial shrouds (Kolatch, 1993, p.36).  To further aid in the propitiation of evil spirits and to also avoid the possibility that women in a state of niddah (ritual impurity due to menstruation) takhrikhim were customarily hand-sewn by post-menopausal women.

All taharah manuals provide the order for dressing the met/metah. Takhrikhim consist of several different garments. The met/metah is first garbed in a mitznefet, the headdress. This is usually a hood for men and a bonnet for women. Next to be put on are the mikhanasyim, trousers, the bottoms of which are sewn to encase the feet. The mikhanasyim are tied at the waist. Then the met/metah is dressed in a k’tonet, a long shirt with sleeves. A cloth ribbon is drawn through the neck seam and tied. The last garment is a kittel, an overshirt, which is drawn over the k’tonet. This garment is very similar to the k’tonet and is symbolic of the kittel ritually worn on Yom Kippur. It will usually have a collar, will reach down to the knees and is also tied at the neck. For the women there will usually be a masveh, a face-veil tied around the neck and sometimes an apron as well that is tied over the kittel. The avnet is a belt that is wound around the kittel and tied in the front in the shape of a shin.  Finally, strips of non-hemmed cloth are tied just below the knee for women and at the ankle for men.

The sovev is the sheet used to drape the body in the coffin. After the dressing is completed the met/metah is then laid in the casket which has been prepared with a sovev and tallit, prayer-shawl. Those who are accustomed to wearing a tallit while alive should be buried with it (Yoreh De’ah 351:2 cited by Klein, 1979, p. 277). Most observant Jewish men own their own tallit. Many women are now choosing to observe this mitzvah and may also wish to be buried with their tallit. One synagogue provided the Hevra Kadisha with old tallitot to use for burial of Jews without their own tallit. Tallitot (ritual prayer shawl) are made pasul (rendered non-kosher) by cutting a corner, cutting the tzitzit (ritual fringes) or knotting the tzitzit and then tucking them into a corner of the tallit (Gesher Hahayim 2:14; Yoreh De’ah 351:12 in Rama cited by Klein, 1979, p. 277). The cut tzitzit are placed in the foot of the aron (coffin).

The word for coffin, aron, is the same as the word used for the Holy Ark, the Aron Kodesh. It corresponds to the Holy of Holies in the First Temple, where the Ark (also Aron) with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a Torah scroll was kept. The Ark is described in First Samuel as a simple wooden chest, occasionally carried to sites of war. At the time of the destruction of the First Temple the Ark was probably destroyed. Therefore the Second Temple could not house the Ark, but the absence of the Ark became it’s own prevailing presence. Mishnah (Yoma 5. 1-3) suggests rituals were enacted as if “the holy of holies” was present (Kaufmann, 1960, p.302). Today the “holy ark” in a synagogue houses the Torah scrolls.

The ties are never tightly knotted, but tied to easily slip free. There are varying customs about how to tie the avnet around the kittel as well as the ties over the mikhanasyim.  Most of the interviewees described their counting with letters of the alef-bet  (alef-bet-gimel-dalet) as they crossed the ties of the avnet hand over hand. Usually the two ends of the avnet are crossed over 13 times and then tied to resemble the Hebrew letter shin. But here, as with many of the customs, variations abound.  Some participants described twisting the avnet seven times, some four times. Zev also described how his group tied the hands and feet. “We would tie around the thumb and the big toe, then tie the thumb around the wrist, do the same with the big toe and the foot, and then tuck in the ends.” It is also recommended that fingers be left open and that the hands be left lying at the sides of the body, not placed over the chest. If the hands won’t open readily there is a technique that might help. Take the elbow and the wrist in hand, bend the wrist back against itself and then open up the thumb, then gradually extend the fingers. Bending the wrist back extends the tendons that may have tightened the hand allowing the fingers to open (personal communication, Zohn, Sept.11, 2000).

One man wondered why the takhrikhim included trousers for women, as most religiously observant women would not wear such attire. As noted, the takhrikhim symbolize the garments of the Kohen Gadol and as such apply to both men and women. However, differences in where the ties are wound around the trousers may serve to indicate gender differences. For men the ties are wound around the ankles to represent their shoes. But for women the ties are wound just below the knees. This tying below the knees is understood by some to represent pantaloons, long undergarments worn under a dress, an anachronistic custom specific to a particular historical period (personal communication, Zohn, September 11, 2000).

Several participants I spoke with described their commitment to continuing to make hand-sewn takhrikhim, while in two other communities the shrouds were stitched using a sewing machine. All other participants used standard factory produced takhrikhim, usually ordered through a funeral home. One sewing group, once with a membership of over 100, now consisted of six women and one man. They met once a month to hand stitch all the takhrikhim needed in their community. They usually kept one small sized shroud for children and one extra large sized shroud in stock.

The pattern used for the takhrikhim was the same for men and for women except for the mitznefet. The women’s bonnets were edged with a border of lace. The original patterns used by the sewing group had recently been redrafted by one of the members of the group to simplify the complexity of the sewing. Their commitment to hand-stitching garments otherwise so readily available commercially, again bespeaks both hiddur mitzvah and a loving and determined commitment. As one of the women said, “Those of us in it feel we’re doing a very special thing. We just do it.” Another group had also been meeting for many years. One of the women has been sewing takhrikhim for over 40 years. The group meets every week and sews over 40 sets of takhrikhim each year. In yet another community a group of women sew takhrikhim on a sewing machine. As Sarah described their group she was very matter-of-fact about the lack of necessity to still hand-sew these garments.

We don’t hand-sew, we use a machine. We don’t knot anything. We start sewing right after Pesah; there are 30-35 funerals a year. We make 60 sets. We meet every Monday morning. Everyone has a different job, the kittel, pants and shirt. The head piece covers the face, it is the same cloth as for the other garments…We have contact with the women in Calgary, they still sew by hand, but it isn’t necessary. We made our own pattern, and then did improvements. We made it larger so that it isn’t so difficult to dress. All the collars are finished, it is much nicer.

Jonathan discussed how his Hevra Kadisha had designed their own takhrikhim. Their garments are quite different from the more standard shrouds, shrouds that he described as resembling ‘Dr. Denton’s.’

We have 3 sizes, S, M, L. It was hard with the different sizes of people. Now we use a shroud that opens up in the back, like a hospital gown. It goes from the shoulders to the feet. There is a belt and a hood. The sleeves go over the hands. There is enough fabric to wrap around the feet and the hands. Then we cover with a sheet. We have a non-Jewish seamstress makes these for us, on a machine. We buy a bolt of cotton/muslin at the discount fabric house. She made up a pattern and she makes 6-8 at a time.

Keeping costs down was one factor in this Hevra’s decision to have locally-made shrouds. To some degree, this decision could be perceived as a group’s local protest against the commercialization of a particular Jewish tradition. It might demonstrate a reclaiming of a sense of community responsibility, to continue a cherished tradition. Sewing their own takhrikhim might also demonstrate the concept of hiddur mitzvah, the same concept that Myre demonstrated when he replaced worn plastic buckets with stainless steel.

The pride in the voices of those sewing these garments was very infectious. Far from being a seamstress, I found myself actually considering picking up needle and thread. However, the numbers of people (nearly all women) involved in this enterprise has decreased dramatically with the ready availability of factory made takhrikhim. Amos remembered his grandmother sewing.

Thirty to forty years ago my grandmother used to hand-sew takhrikhim. The women would come over and sew instead of drinking coffee. We have a set from 70 years ago, with hand stitched lettering, all Hebrew letters. They would be made by the women in the community.

One set of these hand-stitched takhrikhim is now considered an archival item, a cherished remnant of days past. Will this tradition survive? I have faith that hand sewing takhrikhim will continue, albeit perhaps only in a few communities. I recently had a telephone conversation with a friend who had just been invited to join the sewing group in her city. My friend is in her sixties and has waited for many years to be invited to join the group. She was very touched and thrilled to be asked to come and participate. So do the threads of tradition survive.

The following is a description of a curious ancient Jewish dress for a corpse in the seventeenth century: A special pair of drawers was made by women who did this work as a charity. After this had been put on the body a skirt was added, a frill of fine linen, a taled or cloak, square in form with ribbons suspended, and on the head a white cap.

White Shroud Sets include: shirt (Hemmed), pants (Gatkets), overgarment (Kittel), belt (Gartel), blanket (Laloch), bag of earth (Erd Vekel) and hat (Hittel). Women's sets also include a face cover (Ponim Dekel).

Rona described a practice that seemed to be particular to their community. “We seem to be one of the few communities that do this. We take very fine netting and cover the face, tuck it in under the bonnet and the collar of the shirt. It softens the face. The top jacket has a collar that is ruffled – it looks very feminine with the face veil. The netting is wrapped softly around the face.” None of the other participants described having such a custom.

Some women’s groups have unwittingly mistaken the head covering for an apron. Certainly the custom in our Hevra Kadisha has been to use this covering to tie around the kittel to symbolize an apron. This custom has continued for years, even over the protestations from some women that they certainly did not want to be buried wearing an apron. When I discussed this matter with Rabbi Zohn, he laughed heartily and said that the apron/face covering discussion had been going on for some time. There may also be an apron in the set of takhrikhim, but the primary purpose of the squared fabric with ties is a face covering. [2] The variety of customs regarding types of face coverings should not preclude an understanding of the relative consistency of their function. Just as we are not to close the eyes of a dying person even a moment before death, so too are we to respect the dignity of the soul of that same person, a soul reflected in their face. We are also enjoined to only stand at the sides of the body while conducting the washing and dressing. It is understood that God is present at their head and so we as their agents of transition stand at their side. has been to use this covering to tie around the

Tachrichim - traditional, simple, white burial garments.

mitznephet	head covering	Assembly Instructions
michnasayim	pants	Assembly Instructions
k'tonet	shirt	Assembly Instructions
kittel	jacket	Assembly Instructions
avnet	belt	A simple muslin strip
tallit	prayer shawls
(we do not sew or provide these)
sovev	sheet	A 90" x 90" unfinished piece of muslin. A king or queen size sheet would work as well.

Klein Brothers Mosha Klein 4104 - 14th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11219 718-633-4490  800-221-6576

Muslin - $16 Better Cotton - $18 Braided/Lace Lineen - $20 Linen Hand Sewn - $80

Follow the link directly below for Tahara Manuals.  "Elegant layout; includes diagrams for knot tying; suggested niggunim to accompany each part of the process; de-briefing; end-notes"

The first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet are often counted out loud as the ties of the takhrikhim are twisted, then tied into three connected but unknotted bows. Reciting aleph, bet, gimel, dalet members of the Hevra Kadisha invoke God’s gift of letters, and the calling of the world into creation by Word. The ties are twisted into the shape of a shin. Shin is the letter that begins one of the names of God, Shaddai, a name that connotes the power of God. It is also the first letter of the Shema, the Jewish creed of belief in one God. So as the body of the dead is dressed and the shrouds are tied in this holy letter, even the garments become prayer, threads of connection between our hands, the neshama of the dead and God.