Rabbi Shira Fielding

How I began

I served a congregation in Rogers Park for eleven years, and left the pulpit in 2020 for reasons that were mostly about wanting to do this work rather than administer a building. Three funeral homes on the North Shore keep my number by the phone.

Why families choose me

Belonging to a synagogue is how most Jewish funerals get a rabbi, and a great many Jewish families do not belong to one. Interfaith families, families who moved here late, families who fell out with a shul in 1994 — they call the funeral home, the funeral home calls me, and nobody has to explain themselves. I lead the funeral, the graveside and the burial itself, I say kaddish with whoever is there, and I can lead a shiva minyan on any of the seven evenings if you want one. I officiate for interfaith families without qualification, including where the person who died was not Jewish. I will teach a family what to expect at the graveside beforehand — the shovel, the earth, the line people walk through afterwards — because it is a great deal easier when nobody is surprised.

Ownership