Death rests a while: holy day and Sabbath effects on Jewish mortality in Israel

The purpose of this study was to replicate and expand previous research exa mining the association between holy days and the timing of death. We analys ed daily numbers of deaths of Jewish men and women aged 35 and above in Isr ael from 1983 to 1992, controlling for long term and seasonal trends. For a ll men, and for younger women (ages 35-74) there was a clear and significan t dip-peak pattern in the number of deaths around the Sabbath (Saturday), b ut no consistent dip-peak pattern around other holy days. This pattern was found for all causes of death (particularly cerebro-vascular causes), was s tronger for men than for women, and was not found among young Jewish childr en, or among the non-Jewish population. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.