What is Shiva

The first period of structured mourning is shiva. The word shiva has many different meanings across different cultures. In Hebrew it means seven. Shiva, as it relates to Jewish mourning, is the seven-day mourning period for the immediate family of the deceased which consists of spouse, child, parent or sibling.

Suggested Books:
A Time to Mourn, A Time to Comfort by Ron Wolfson 
Jewish Insights on Death and Mourning Edited by Jack Riemer & Sherwin B. Nuland 
The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning by Maurice Lamm
When A Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son by Samuel C Heilman