Talk:Shiva (Judaism)

Suggest external link to Jewish Funerals, Burial and Mourning [located at www.Jewish-funerals.org].

Maybe helpful: JewFAQ It's a favorite site of mine. Guy M ^(talk) 17:40, Feb 27, 2005 (UTC)

Unfounded opinion

The last sentence in the "exo-marriages" section should be stricken, as it's an unsupported opinion that seems to refer entirely to the author's home community. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.163.232.140 (talk) 03:16, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Tradition

In any of the paragraphs that being with "traditionally", bear in mind that the customs may vary wildly between communities and families. Binba 07:57, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite

The original version was very wishy-washy, ommitted many crucial concepts, and gave a lot of emotional baggage inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. I have stuck to the facts. The references were not actually being referred to, so I removed these. JFW | T@lk 23:45, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

It was an ancient copyvio, identified by Raul654 but reinserted by the anon; source. JFW | T@lk 23:50, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Question From A Reader:

I am Orthodox and have never yet heard a woman recite the kaddish. I do not know of any Orthodox congregations in which this would be allowed either. Which congregations are part of the "growing" Orthodox community to allow such? Which rabinical seminaries are accepting this practice and presenting it as acceptable to there students? This is a question of true curiosity, and not an attack on the writer.

Renaming the article

I suggest renaming the article "Shiv'ah", since that is the spelling usied in the article itself. Any objections? Michagal 16:05, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I object. Any number of spellings are correct. It is merely an English representation of sounds in another language. The article might mention each of the variety of possible spellings. But the spelling, "shiva" seems fine, to me, for the title. It is short, simple, and a common spelling. Bus stop 16:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

From a Hebrew point of view, a much less accurate representation. The "ah" is actually the laryngeal letter Ayn, and taking out the stop wanders further away from the word. Literally, "Shiva" gets close to "Sheyva", a totally different word. However, I don't know how English-speaking Jewish communites tend to write the term. Binba 07:53, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Use as an expression?

There have been a few occasions where I've heard the term "sitting Shiva" used as a general expression and not necessarily a direct reference to the ritual. An example of this can be found in (of all places) the movie Men in Black II where a talking dog (don't ask) uses the term in the apparent context of "You OK?" It's possible the film might be misusing the term, but if it is sometimes used as a general expression that might be worth noting. 23skidoo (talk) 14:42, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Never heard of that before... Regardless, it sounds like an original thought. ask123 (talk) 20:34, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Popular Culture

I remember seeing in Babylon 5 commander Ivanova sitting Shiva for her father -- don't remember episode, just that it was in 1st season. 76.167.180.208 (talk) 02:33, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

The "Sitting" part of "Sitting Shiva"

Is "sitting seven (days)" correctly written Shibeth Sheba (שֶׁבֶת שֶׁבַע)? Or might one use the alternate word for seven Shibath (שִׁבְעַת)? Or Shabath (שָׁבַת)? Is there any evidence that the common sounds of shibeth and shibath are the origin of the practice? And consequently, that Sitting Shiva is anciently related to Jubilee (49)? Or Shabua (שָׁבֻעַ) (Feast of the 49 weeks)? Original research, I know, which is why I'm asking on the talk page. Anybody? Anybody? -- TheEditrix2 00:54, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

I thought shiva meant "to sit", but the article says it means seven. I thought I remembered learning in Hebrew school that saying "sitting shiva" was redundant for that reason. I havent practiced Judaism for a long time though and just curious.