Sitting shiva

I wondered as I typed The Mourner's Kaddish if religious reasons had prevented Louis Puskin from traveling to Columbus immediately after David's death. I finally spotted this paragraph in the Thursday, Feb. 5, 1925 edition of their local paper, Canton Daily News which seemed to confirm my curiosity:

    Louis Puskin, father of David Puskin, 1130 Rex av NE, who died last Thursday under mysterious circumstances at Ohio State University where he was a student, announced Thursday he would probably send a man to Columbus to aid in the investigation 

    Mr. Puskin, because of Jewish custom, will be unable to take personal action in the investigation. Members of the Puskin family said they did not think a representative would be sent to Columbus today and that as yet no one had been chosen for the mission.

        It is probable that a man will be picked Friday to represent Mr. Puskin at Columbus. 

I am no scholar on Jewish customs or rituals, so any mistakes are all mine. As far as can tell, the four basic stages of Jewish mourning are:

1. Aninut. During this time, individuals experience the initial shock of their loss: anger, denial, and disbelief. This is when keriah, or the rending of the garments, is performed.
2. Shiva: seven days dedicated towards remembrance of the deceased individual. "Sitting" shiva (or shiv'ah) refers to the act of sitting on low stools or the floor during times of mourning.
3. Sheloshim: During this period, mourning proceeds for 30 days following the burial. After the intense seven days of shiva, sheloshim encourages individuals to begin to partake in social relations in order to slowly ease back into normal daily activities.
4. Yahrzeit or yizkor, the final stage of the 12-month period of mourning ceases, and yearly remembrance ceremonies are held for the individual who had died.

Reading this, I believe the Puskin family was sitting shiva. David was buried in Canton Hebrew Cemetery on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1925. Shiva (Hebrew: שִׁבְעָה‎, literally "seven") is the week-long mourning period in Judaism for first-degree relatives: parents, spouses, children, and siblings of the person who has died. The shiva period lasts for seven days following the burial. Following the initial period of despair and lamentation immediately after the death, shiva embraces a time when individuals discuss their loss and accept the comfort of others. 

During, shiva, mourners remain at home, and friends and family visit those in mourning in order to give their condolences and provide comfort. Dating back to biblical times, shiva formalizes the natural way an individual confronts and overcomes grief. Shiva allows for the individual to express their sorrow, discuss the loss of a loved one, and slowly re-enter society.

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