Grace after Meals in a House of Mourning

Unknown

10th to 13th Century

About This Entry

These additions to the Grace after Meals are for when it was recited after the meal eaten by the mourners upon their return from the burial. The practice of modifying the Grace after Meals for particular occasions appears in the Talmud (b. Berakhot 46b). The custom of consuming particular items at this meal also appears in eighth- or ninth-century collection The Chapters of R. Eliezer (Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer). The instructions are in Judeo-Arabic.

What One Says When Feeding a Mourner

Say: [In] memory of a good man.

May the memory of a humble man be for a blessing.

May the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, and their souls [be] in paradise.

Their resting place beneath the tree of life.

May their souls be bound up in the bond of life.

Bless: He who brings forth bread from the earth.

He [then] breaks [bread] and places [it] before [or, in the hands of] the mourners.

This Is the Grace after Meals

Say: [In] memory of a good man [ . . . until “in the bond of life”].

Bless: He who encourages with mercy the creatures He formed with kindness and righteousness. O mourners console by [Your] hand. His name consoles. Renounce the evil [decrees] in your path. Rescind Your anger and be appeased. Do You not proclaim and enact? Who shall tell You what to do? Remember the merit [of him] bound as a lamb. In Your kindness enact life. As it is written . . .

Source: Oxford Bodleian Library MS Heb. g.2, fol. 43b.

Translated by Naftali (Neal) Kreisler.