“A little month… O God! A beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourned longer.” – Hamlet, I.2, William Shakespeare (1601)

Every parent’s worst nightmare is losing their child. Whether due to illness, drugs, suicide, crime, war or terrorism, tragically, we all know someone who has.

It is so ubiquitous some modify the traditional blessing “May you live till 120” to “… or the day before your first child dies.” I have noted [Echoes in the Wells of Silence: “Aaron was Silent”, January 5, 2026] mourning a child is torturously antithetical to mourning a parent.

Commonly, Jewish law reflects verities of grief (e.g., immediately post loved ones’ deaths, Aninut, we are exempt from praising God.) Yet,........

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