Life Cycle

Life Cycle Introduction

Brit Milah &
Simchat Brit

Consecration

Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Confirmation

Marriage

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Conversion

Divorce

Death

Yizkor

Yahrzeit

Facility Usage
Yizkor Prayers

In the Prayers of Yizkor, "May God Remember," we ask God to "remember" the souls of our loved ones who have passed away. These include primarily family members: husbands and wives, parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and children.

But of course, as far as remembering is concerned, we know that God never forgets, as we say on Rosh Hashanah, in the Prayer of Zichronot, Remembrances, "Atah Zocher Maaseh Olam, You remember everything that has ever happened." So Yizkor is really an opportunity for us to bring to mind intensely, to re-create, if only for a few brief moments, connections that once existed between ourselves and loved ones, who have passed away.

It is also an opportunity to secure additional merit for those beloved ones by performing the act of Tzedakah, Charity. This would be in accordance with the verse, "U'Tzedakah Tatzil MiMavet," "Charity Protects from Death," in the sense that the act of kindness involved in one's assisting the poor accrues not only to one's own merit, but also to the Eternal merit of one's parents and loved ones, whose standing in "Olam HaBa," the World of the Spirit, is enhanced by the acts of goodness done by those who remember them. (Source: http://www.ou.org/)


Yizkor Services
Yizkor is the memorial service recited four times a year by the congregation during the Jewish holiday services of Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Passover, and Shavuot. At Temple Adat Shalom, the Yizkor services are held on:

• Yom Kippur
• Simchat Torah
• Passover
• Shavuot




May God remember the souls of all my martyred relatives,
the executed, the butchered, the burned, the drowned,
and the hanged....
Mahzor Kavanat ha-Paytan, London, 1771
Dorot Jewish Division, NYPL


For additional information about Yizkor, click here.