Bereavement in Judaism as Rosh Hashanah, cancel the mourning period completely. The thirty-day period following burial (including "shiva") is known as "shloshim" (). During "shloshim", a mourner is forbidden to marry or to attend a "seudat mitzvah" (religious festive meal). Men do not shave or get haircuts during this time. Since Judaism teaches that a deceased person can still benefit from the merit of "mitzvot" (commandments) performed in their memory, it is considered a special privilege to bring merit to the departed by learning Torah in their name. A popular custom is to coordinate a group of people who will jointly study the
Mitzvah Technique teachers and actors. As a dancer and Alexander Teacher, Nehemia also spent years observing working bodies in action among animals, children, fellow Inbal dancers and the nomadic Bedouin. Out of these myriad experiences and observations came the fuller development of the Mitzvah Technique, emphasizing the natural rippling motion of the spine. Nehemia came to Toronto in the late 1960s where he established the Centre for the Alexander Technique that later became the Mitzvah Technique Centre. This centre has trained scores of Mitzvah teachers and treated thousands of clients who have come from around the world. Nehemia died November 18, 2018