1 “Every day2 [during the eleven months of mourning that the Rebbe Rashab observed], except for Shabbos and Yom-Tov, I made a point of reciting sixteen Kaddeishim.3
“The Kaddish preceding Barchu after Shemoneh Esreh on Shabbos4 should not be recited [by a mourner].
“The recitation of Kaddish should be terminated a month and a day before the [first] yahrzeit. For example, if the yahrzeit is on the tenth of Shvat,5 Kaddish is recited for the last time [at Minchah] on the ninth day of Teves.
“I request that throughout the first year my wife make a contribution to charity, for [the elevation of] my soul, every Monday and Thursday, as well as every erev Shabbos [i.e., Friday] and erev Rosh Chodesh. If it is possible that it should be given to the poor on the same day, so much the better, and I ask that every endeavor be made in this direction.”
* * *
The completion of the eleven months (including the time at which the recitation of Kaddish ends) is also reckoned from the day of the decease, and not from the time that Kaddish began, even if this was delayed some days.6
The yahrzeit is to be observed on the date of the decease even on the first anniversary, and even if there was an interval till the time of burial.7
On the Shabbos preceding the yahrzeit, or on the yahrzeit itself if it falls on Shabbos, one should endeavor to be called to the reading of Maftir.8
If the yahrzeit falls on a day when the Torah is read, it is customary that one be called for an aliyah on that day.9
If the yahrzeit falls on a day when the Torah is read, one should endeavor to recite the half-Kaddish that follows the Reading of the Torah.
The following practices, which in some circles people make a point of observing, are not observed by us: reciting the Kaddish that follows Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbos on the Friday evening preceding the yahrzeit; leading the services as sheliach tzibbur (even at Mussaf) on the Shabbos preceding the yahrzeit; leading the Grace After Meals at Seudah Shelishis on this Shabbos; and serving as sheliach tzibbur for Maariv at the close of this Shabbos (unless of course, the yahrzeit falls on Sunday).10
Immediately after sunset one lights a yahrzeit candle, which should burn until nightfall of the following day.11
At [each of the three daily] prayer services, five candles are lit [in front of the person observing yahrzeit who is leading the congregation].12
[Regarding the daily study of Mishnayos, see the above section on Semachos (p. 177) and the footnotes there.]
A person observing a yahrzeit that falls on Friday should recite the Kaddish that follows Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbos [in the evening prayers; Siddur, p. 133].13
