In Judaism, it is a mitzvah to go to a Shiva house (house of mourning) and comfort the mourners.  Just being there, sharing in their sorrow, is the mitzvah.  Today, Jordan and I went to a friend’s home who just lost his father.  He is not one of our closest friends, but someone we really like and we wanted to pay our respects.  It was nice to be there as part of their minyon and to know that the mourners appreciated our presence.  We felt really good about the visit  and noted how important it is to just show up.