While attending Abraham Rogarshevsky's funeral, friends and neighbors of the family would prepare the apartment for shiva, the traditional Jewish period of mourning. After returning from the cemetery, the Rogarshevsky family would first rinse their hands outside of the tenement and then eat the seudat havra-ah, which is the traditional mourning meal in the Jewish faith. All of the food is round which signifies the circle of life that has no end and no beginning, but goes on and on forever.

"After the cemetery, everybody has to wash their hands, before they go in the house. We have prepared tables, with the two candles we put in center there. Then always they have coffee, bread, or something, soup, strong soup, chicken soup for the people coming from the cemetery. Then the family, everybody quiet, because we know we don't see him (the deceased) anymore."