In loving memory

May their memory be a blessing

זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה

On Jews Impact, the profiles of the 303 people who have passed carry a gold frame, a ribbon and these words. Here is what they mean, and why we use them.

A light that never goes out

The memorial candle

This candle is always lit. It burns here, day and night, for every person on Jews Impact who has passed, and for everyone you are remembering as you read this.

In Jewish homes, a memorial candle, the ner neshamah or “soul candle”, is lit on the yahrzeit, the anniversary of a death, and during the first week of mourning. It burns for a full day and night. The custom draws on a verse from the Book of Proverbs (20:27): “The soul of a person is the lamp of the Lord.” A small flame, steady in the dark, is a picture of a life that still gives light.

Synagogues keep a light of their own, the ner tamid or eternal light, which hangs before the ark and is never allowed to go out. Our candle borrows that promise: the flame burns on, as the good these people did burns on in the world.

נֵר ה׳ נִשְׁמַת אָדָם

When Jews speak of someone who has died, they often add a short blessing after the name. It is a way of saying: this person is gone, but the good they did is still with us.

What the words mean

For a man, the Hebrew is זִכְרוֹנוֹ לִבְרָכָה, zikhrono livrakha: “may his memory be a blessing.” For a woman it is זִכְרוֹנָהּ לִבְרָכָה, zikhronah livrakha, “may her memory be a blessing,” and for more than one person, זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה, zikhronam livrakha. In writing it is often shortened to ז״ל, or to z”l after a name in English.

The phrase grows out of a verse in the Book of Proverbs (10:7): “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.” For people of special righteousness and learning, Jewish tradition sometimes uses the fuller form, zekher tzaddik livrakha, “may the memory of the righteous be a blessing.”

A memory that keeps doing good

The words are more than a polite formula. They carry a hope: that remembering a person will bring blessing into the world. A memory becomes a blessing when the people who remember carry on what was best in the life they lost. A teacher’s lessons are taught again, a doctor’s cure keeps saving lives, a writer’s words keep giving courage. In that sense, a life of impact does not end when the person does.

How Jewish tradition honours those who have died

Remembrance is woven into Jewish life. Mourners recite the Kaddish, a prayer that praises God and does not mention death at all. On the yahrzeit, the anniversary of a death, families light a candle that burns for a full day. Many give tzedakah, charity, in the name of the person they lost, or study a passage of Torah in their memory. Visitors to a grave often leave a small stone, a quiet sign that someone came and remembered.

How we honour them on Jews Impact

Every profile of someone who has passed carries a gold frame on their portrait, a small “In loving memory” ribbon, and the blessing in English and Hebrew beneath their dates. The people who are still living, and still shaping our world, are shown without it.

We also try to honour them the way the blessing asks: by telling their stories truthfully, checked against published sources, and by sharing the good they did so that others can learn from it.

Let their memory inspire you

The best way to honour a life of impact is to continue it. Read one story and share it with someone. Do one good thing in the name of a person whose life moved you: give, volunteer, teach, mentor, or simply help a neighbour. That is how a memory becomes a blessing, and it is how each of us can make an impact of our own.

The idea at the heart of all of this has a name in Jewish tradition: tikkun olam, the repair of the world.

Yizkor
Remembering the Shoah

Six candles for the six million, and the lives of those we lost, the fighters, rescuers and survivors who rebuilt the world.

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Those we remember