Simple white shrouds democratize death and protect the poor from
embarrassment. Excerpted with permission from Saying Kaddish:
How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead, & Mourn as a Jew
(Schocken Books). The traditional clothing for burying the dead
are tachrichim, simple white shrouds. Their use dates back to
Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel II, who, in the second century of the
Common Era, asked to be buried in inexpensive linen garments.
The custom--which set both a decorous minimum and a limit on
ostentation--has been followed by observant Jews ever since:
"Whoever heaps elaborate shrouds upon the dead transgresses the
injunction against wanton destruction. Such a one disgraces the
deceased." The universal use of shrouds protected the poor from
embarrassment at not being able to afford lavish burial clothes.
Since shrouds have no pockets, wealth or status cannot be
expressed or acknowledged in death. In every generation, these
garments reaffirmed a fundamental belief in human equality.
Shrouds are white and entire