The Virtual Shmirah Library contains digital files that shomrim can use as they perform shmirah, as well as a variety of additional materials to help deepen our understanding of end-of-life topics, both Jewish and general. Click here to learn about the ritual of shmirah.
Getting Started
IKAR Guidelines for Shemirah, information intended to help shomrim understand what to do.
Gail Tosto’s article about What Shmirah Means to Shomrim helps newcomers understand what this work feels like.
Shomrim Handbook Outline by Susan Barnes gives local leaders guidance on how to create a shmirah handbook for local volunteers.
Psalms
- Complete Psalms chanted in Hebrew
- Psalm 51, chanted in Hebrew
- Psalm 90, recited in Hebrew
- Psalm, 90, in Hebrew, chanted, Sephardic tradition
- Psalm 91, in Hebrew, chanted, Sephardic tradition
- Psalm 104, excerpt, sung in Hebrew (Yamma Ensemble)
- Psalm 119, sung in Hebrew
- Psalm 121, sung in Hebrew
- Psalm 150, Hadar Maoz Music
- Psalm 150, Amy Robinson Music
Recordings
- Achat Sha’alti (Psalm 27:4) (Chava Mirel)
- May the Blessings of G-d Rest Upon You (David Zeller)
- May the Angels Carry You (Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael)
- Elohai Neshama (Shefa Gold, performed by Howling Harp)
- B’Shem haShem (Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach)
- B’Shem haShem (sung by Nechama and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach)
- The Angel’s Blessing (Debbie Friedman, sung by the Mazeltones)
- Gam Ki Elech (Though I Walk) (Elli & Ravital Kranzler)
- Gam Ki Elech (Even as I Walk) (sung by Shlomo & Neshama Carlebach)
- T’fillat haDerech (Debbie Friedman)
- The Watchman’s Chair (Beth Hamon) – lyrics only | video
- A Jewish prayer with shofar (Yamma Ensemble)
- Shmirah Niggun (by Niccol Tzipporah Graf, Austin, TX)
- Rabbi Mitch Chefitz on Living Life So Your Cup Is Always Overflowing
Prayers, Poems, and Reflections
- Blessings for Shmirah
- Changing of the Shmirah Shift: Rabbi Me’irah Iliinsky
- Dvar Torah: Chayei Sarah_E. Siegel
- Poem: Take Me
- Poem: The Grim Reaper
- Prayer for the Mitzvah of Shmirah
- What If We Treated Death Like Birth
- Poem: Taharah by Miller Oberman
- What Death Should Teach Us About Life and Living (Abraham Joshua Heschel)
For Further Exploration
- Thoughts, poems, and more shared by members of Austin Shmirah
- An Online Generation Redefines Mourning_H. Seligson
- At a Pittsburgh Crime Scene, Jewish Volunteers Guard the Bodies of Holy Martyrs
- Burial society organization suggests new rituals_Forward
- Death during a pandemic
- Dying in Austin_Community Has Options When It Comes to Jewish Burial
- Guarding the Dead, E. Savage
- How Do I Make Peace with Dying, J. Kluger
- No Time to Mourn, B. Lucombe
- Painful New Choices in End-of-Life Care_Time, May 15 2020
- Reviving a Ritual of Tending to the Dead
- Taharah for Auschwitz Survivor, Forward
- Burying Amputated Limbs with the Body
- Tips on Honoring Jewish Dead and Comforting Jewish Mourners
- Share the Vigil: Frequently Asked Questions
- Singing to the Dead Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips
- Zombies, Vampires, and Things That Come Back to Life: A Rabbi’s Take on Halloween and Beyond Regina Sandler-Phillips
- All Through the Night: Reclaiming the Vigil in Times of Trauma
- Seven Steps to Sacred Fellowship Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips
- Karen Benioff Friedman’s taharah paintings, article in the Forward
- Burst of Brain Activity During Dying Could Explain Life Passing Before Your Eyes
- Our Lives really DO Flash Before Us