When one hears of the death (after 120) of a friend who is one’s yedid nefesh does one do kriyah. If yes when and how.
Answer:
One does not generally to kriyah over somebody who is not a close relative.
The halachah of kriyah is specific to a relative over whom one sits shiva, or for one’s close rabbi and mentor (Yoreh De’ah 242:25; see also Moed Katan 24).
Although we also find tearing clothes as a general expression of pain and loss (such as the Tribes, or Mordechai in Megilas Esther), this is not customary today, and certainly not in public.
Best wishes.
