In the Talmud and the Midrash, death and birth are viewed as parallel processes, and the way a person died and the day of the death were thought to be significant as good or bad omens for the deceased. Many of the death, burial, and mourning customs of the Jews of the Islamic world were closer than their Ashkenazi counterparts to the practices of talmudic times.  Jewish custom everywhere insists on prompt burial as a matter of respect for the dead, and …