As families live farther apart and fewer Jews belong to synagogues, dealing with death and funerals becomes ever more difficult. And no one needs more aggravation when they’re grieving.
Now there’s an online service to help.
Shivalistings.com provides an online portal for people to announce a death, post an obituary and provide details of the funeral and seven-day shiva mourning period in one central location, without having to pick up the phone or compose email messages to everyone who might want to know.
Writes founder Jay Weiss of Jericho, N.Y.:
“With many families having no formal relationship with a synagogue or rabbi, the site can help bring comfort and ease to a family dealing with sudden tragic loss by centralizing nearly all aspects of the mourning process in one convenient place.”
In addition to the free obituary, families and friends can contribute memories and photos to an online “memory board” that stays live as long as the family wishes.
The site was tested for the past year, and went live officially about a month ago. Seems like a worthy endeavor.
