Leaving The Shiva House
Leaving the shiva house is permitted when traveling between two locations where shiva is being observed by different members of the family, in cases of pikuach nefesh, i.e., a human life is in danger, whether that of the mourner or someone else; when something must be done to prevent another person from suffering and no one else can do it, such as caring for a child or an elderly or sick person; to feed or care for one's animals if there is no one else to do so; if another relative for whom the mourner is required to sit shiva dies, the mourner may attend the funeral. Leaving the house is also permitted on Shabbat.
Generally, one does not work or conduct business during shiva, although an exception may be made for those whose duties involve pikuach nefesh (doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians). The same is true for mourners who are liable to suffer serious economic loss. If a mourner shares a business with a partner, and the partner can operate the business alone, the partner shall run the business. The partner is entitled to keep all profits made during the time, but if the partner does not exert additional effort, and the mourner will suffer economic loss, the partner is encouraged to donate the profits to the mourner, considering it tzedaka. A mourner may do the minimal amount of work necessary in order to assure the survival of a business, or if his position is important in meeting the needs of the public and no substitute can be found. This includes elected officials whose work is necessary for the citizens. During the shiva period, the mourner is permitted to give instructions on how to handle business in his absence.
Read more about this topic: Shiva (Judaism)
Famous quotes containing the words leaving the, leaving and/or house:
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)
“Television ... helps blur the distinction between framed and unframed reality. Whereas going to the movies necessarily entails leaving one’s ordinary surroundings, soap operas are in fact spatially inseparable from the rest of one’s life. In homes where television is on most of the time, they are also temporally integrated into one’s “real” life and, unlike the experience of going out in the evening to see a show, may not even interrupt its regular flow.”
—Eviatar Zerubavel, U.S. sociologist, educator. The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life, ch. 5, University of Chicago Press (1991)
“Whenever our neighbour’s house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)