Yahrzeit

Q: What are the origins of the yahrzeit?

A: As is contained in the word itself, “yahr” means year and “zeit” means time.  Yahrzeit therefore literally means “time of year.”  More specifically, it indicates the anniversary of the death of one’s parents or immediate relatives.

One theory is that word yahrzeit began to be used around 1400 in Germany.   However the practice to remembering the dead is much older.  For example, for almost 2,000 years Jews have been observing Lag B’Omer as the yahrzeit of a famous rabbi, Shimon Bar Yohai, who died on that date. 

Today we recall our dead by lighting a 24 hour candle, called a yahrzeit lamp, saying Kaddish on the appointed date in synagogue and having the privilege of an aliyah at services to commemorate their life.