The fact that this article exists is in itself remarkable, since it represents a detailed account of bereavement in diverse cultural groups in Israel, apparently compiled only a month or so after the losses of the Yom Kippur War. The observations cover the widest range of cultural patterns originating from nearly half the globe. The author shows great sensitivity in understanding the special trauma death may have when the son's death precedes the father's, when the son's parents escaped the extermination camps, or when the son was the first of a poor Sephardic family to acculturate successfully.