What to send when someone Jewish dies?

[Anonymous]

They are conservative, and I’ve heard not to send flowers. It’s was a sudden death of a mother with kids. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I usually send food (something easy that doesn’t require much effort to store, serve or eat) so that the no one has to worry about feeding family and guests. A donation to an appropriate charity is also common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I usually send food (something easy that doesn’t require much effort to store, serve or eat) so that the no one has to worry about feeding family and guests. A donation to an appropriate charity is also common.

+1. Food that can go in the freezer if they receive a ton of food, gift card for easy prepared food delivery (e.g., Soupergirl), or donation to a charity important to the deceased (e.g., homeless services) or related to their cause of death in some cases (e.g. cancer research)

[Anonymous]

I read that for the Shiva you can send kosher food. I made a basket of assorted fruits. It was whole fruits so that it could be kept for some time or also distributed. Read up on the etiquettes of Shive on wikipedia if you are not Jewish.

[Anonymous]

Wait a few days and send a gift card to a nearby kosher restaurant. If they are religious or embedded in their community, they will have a LOT of food coming their way. They may be sitting shiva elsewhere, so don’t bother sending food.

[Anonymous]

Food from GoldBelly - bagels and lox platter, tuna or whitefish salad, babka and cookie platter, etc.

https://www.goldbelly.com/

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[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.

Jew here nah don't waste your money.

Food or make a donation to something besides Jewish National Fund. Jewish National Fund shoulds great but in reality more of a sham.

[Anonymous]

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

Not necessarily. There is usually a close friend or relative who is coordinating everything. Try to find that person and she (yes, it’s usually a woman) can tell you what the family needs. They may have lots of people in town and need food for a certain meal or that person may be coordinating a meal train. When one of my close friend’s father’s died in another state, a bunch of us wanted to send something to the shiva. I called my friend’s SIL and she told us exactly what to send. Friend’s step mom was very particular. Another time my cousin’s wife father died and all of the cousins wanted to send dinner one night during shiva and the person in charge told us what to send, what time, etc ( people need variety - they can’t have 7 nights of Italian or 7 nights of Chinese etc).

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Jew here nah don't waste your money.

Food or make a donation to something besides Jewish National Fund. Jewish National Fund shoulds great but in reality more of a sham.

Oh wow, thanks for this. I was actually going to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Jew here nah don't waste your money.

Food or make a donation to something besides Jewish National Fund. Jewish National Fund shoulds great but in reality more of a sham.

Oh wow, thanks for this. I was actually going to do this.

What about Trees for the Holy Land? Anyone have experience with them?

[Anonymous]

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