This woodcut is an illustration in Sefer minhagim (Book of Customs), a very popular Yiddish book published by Giovanni di Gara, the leading publisher of Jewish books in Venice from 1564 to 1609. It…
The Kinah [Lament] in Honor of Those Who Died in the Earthquake
Wail O [professional female] mourners for the suffering of our death.
The earth trembled with the earthquakes. We lost young and old…
The process of ritual purification of a dead body, known as taharah, involves careful cleaning of the corpse. Prior to being dressed in a white cotton shroud, the body of the deceased is washed, the…