Honorifics for the dead in Judaism

The most common honorific is "of blessed memory"[3] or "may his/her memory be a blessing".[4] The Hebrew transliteration is "zikhrono livrakha" (m.) / "zikhronah livrakha" (f.) (Hebrew: (f.) "זיכרונה לברכה‎" \ (m.) "זיכרונו לברכה‎"). It is often abbreviated in English both as OBM and as "Z"L" The Hebrew abbreviation is "ז״ל‎".

Although in the past it was common to use this expression for living people as well[5] In the Babylonian Talmud, it is mentioned that a person should say this expression about his dead father, in addition to the phrase "I am the atonement of his bed".[6]

An alternative honorific is "Peace be upon him/her". The Hebrew version is "alav ha-shalom" (m.) / "aleha ha-shalom" (f.) (Hebrew: (m.) "עליו השלום‎" / (f.) "עליה השלום‎"). It is abbreviated in English as "A"H". The Hebrew abbreviation is "ע״ה‎".

This phrase is the same as the Islamic honorific "peace be upon him" (which is used for all prophets of Islam). However, unlike in Islamic usage, the English abbreviation "PBUH" is not commonly used for the Jewish honorific.

The above two may be used interchangeably; however "of blessed memory" is the most common.

The term עליו השלום did not appear in Hebrew literature until the early Rishonic period, a century after its introduction in Judeo-Arabic. According to the theory of Michael Broyde, after the Arab conquest the Arabic phrase عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ (peace be upon him) was translated to Hebrew עליו השלום‎ and was used for any deceased person, a usage which spread to the Jews of Christian Europe beginning in the 12th century. The phrase is more common in Islamic literature as an honorific for saints, and over time in Hebrew it came to predominate over עבד השם‎ (the classical Hebrew honorific for biblical figures), and by 1600 usage of עבד השם‎ had disappeared, leaving עליו השלום‎ (or its feminine/plural forms) as the only expansion of ע"ה‎.[7]

This honorific "May HaShem avenge his/her blood" is generally used for an individual who are considered to have been martyred through acts of anti-Semitism such as pogroms, genocide, or terrorist attacks. The term is also applied to any innocent Jew killed, whether for anti-Semitic reasons or others; for example, the LGBTQ community in Israel refers to Shira Banki, a teenager murdered in the 2015 Jerusalem Pride Parade, as Shira Banki HY"D.[8] The Hebrew phrase is "HaShem yikom damo" (m.) / "HaShem yikom dama" (f.) / "HaShem yikom damam" (pl.) and in the Hebrew: "השם יקום דמו‎" (m.) / "השם יקום דמה‎" (f.) / "השם יקום דמם‎" (pl.). The English abbreviation is "HY"D" and in Hebrew "הי״ד‎".

The abbreviation "זי״ע/zy"a" stands for "zekhuto yagen `aleinu/May his merit shield us", and often follows the mention of meritorious righteous ones. A variant is "זיע״א/zya"a" which adds "Amen" at the end. This expression stems from the belief that a righteous person who passes to the next world can serve as an advocate before God for his remaining community. Other acronyms of this type are נבג"מ (נשמתו בגנזי מרומים; his soul in the heavenly vineyards) and נלב"ע (נפטר לבית עולמו; died to his world).

The honorific "May the memory of the righteous be a blessing" is used after the names of holy rabbis and other holy people, and "the name of the wicked shall perish" on a wicked person.[2] both from Proverbs 10:7.

In Hebrew transliteration: "zekher tzadik livrakha" and in Hebrew: "זכר צדיק לברכה‎". The English abbreviation commonly used is "ZT"L" and in Hebrew, "זצ״ל‎" is used. It is pronounced in reading as "zatzal". It may be also written as "ZTz"L".

It is used primarily in reference to rabbis who have been deceased in recent memory. Thus, one is likely to write "Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ZT"L" (d. 1986) but far less likely to write "Rashi ZT"L" (d. 1105). This expression is synonymous with Z"L (see above) in that Z"L inherently implies the person was righteous, but, in modern Hasidic communities, where tzadik has acquired a different meaning, ZT"L may be used to distinguish the Tzadik in that modern sense.

In the course of time, additional versions of the above expressions were created, for example: "זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה‎"; "may the memory of the righteous and holy be a blessing" (ZTVK"L; זצוק״ל‎), "may the memory of the righteous and holy be a blessing for the life of the world to come" (זצוקללה״ה‎).

While the above mentioned positive honorifics are added to the names of beloved people, the names of those considered to be particularly wicked (i.e. evil, despised, etc.) are sometimes embellished with the phrase "Yimakh shemo" ימח שמו, "May his name be blotted out". Another phrase is "Shem reshaim yirkav" שם רשעים ירקב, "the name of the wicked will rot".[10]