[Avodah] loss of infants

[Ilana Elzufon]

1) You really cannot draw any kind of reliable conclusions about a person's
level of grief from their behaviour at a funeral. I'm sure many people
return home from a funeral at which they were very emotional and resume
their normal lives, whereas some mourners who seem very calm in public will
find that the tears only come when they are alone.

2) RMB: It seems clear to me, therefore, that aveilus is 30
days nearly across the board, with parents being a special case because
of a separate chiyuv.

That seems clear to me as well. On a practical level, it also makes sense.
In general, a person only has two parents. That means a maximum of two
year-long aveilut periods (less if they overlap, or if r"l a person
predeceases his parents or an orphan is too young for the laws of aveilut
to apply). But imagine what would happen if elderly people from large
families observed a year every time they lost a sibling.

- Ilana
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20120620/6b1b39e5/attachment-0002.htm>