What to send when someone Jewish dies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Precovid I would attend the shiva and bring food. Coordinate with them for days and specific foods. Now that Shiva is small or zoom, I've been sending either a food gift card that they can use whenever. You can also have a tree planted in Israel, which is a nice symbolic gesture.

Ditto on trees. Jewish National Fund.

Jewish person here. Agree these are fine. Sending a letter or card expressing condolences is always kind. Kosher food is preferred (even if the family doesn’t keep kosher at home, they might have others staying or visiting who do). Full fruit is parve, as someone else mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are conservative they probably only eat Kosher food. Get a gift certificate to a kosher restaurant or grocery store.

Thank you everyone. The deceased was conservative, but the person I'd be sending the gift to isn't. I am not sure if they keep Kosher or not though. I've never noticed. They definitely celebrate Passover.

Even if they don't keep strict kosher, I would lean toward kosher foods while people are sitting shiva. My BFF who was conservative growing up always kept kosher in the sens of no meat with cheese, no shrimp, no lard, no pork, etc...but her family was extra strict for Passover. I would assume that people are extra strict for Passover, and gift accordingly. Nothing cooked unless it was cooked in a kosher kitchen (fruit etc should be fine) and no non-kosher meat/dairy.