The Meaning of the Kaddish
Yizkor-Pesah 2014
. What is the one thing that every Jew comes to
learn--too well, in the course of life--the one prayer--perhaps even more than
Shma Yisrael, which a Jew must say morning and evening?
What
else if not the Kaddish--this one statement, which we associate with life's
most tragic moments. How many recall that , even today, a husband would be
concerned that his wife gave birth to a boy, no matter how many girls, just to
be sure that he had a kadishel--some one to say Kaddish for him.
But we know this prayer so well--do we
understand it--do we know what ot means- what it comes to teach us.
Today,
Yizkor, we all say Kaddish, we will examine what the Kaddish has to offer us.
The most important thing I can say--is the Kaddish
is not, never was, and never will be a prayer for the dead, but a statement of
faith for the living.
Some of you know, I worked in Israel in Jewish
education, and one of my areas was teaching Jewish concepts to secular teachers
who had little feeling for the subject.
One of
the most moving and powerful days on the Israeli calendar is Yom Hazikaron, the
day preceding Israel independence day, which will be observed in just two
weeks.
It is
amazing--on this day, the country comes to a stand-absolute stand. Siren calls,
every one stands absolutely still. Cars halt on highway, drivers get out and
stand silently.
At every ceremony, standard declaration--the
poem found in book of Samuel, King David's elegy for Saul and Jonathan--Aich
Naflu Giborim--How the mighty have fallen. Then, followed by Kaddish, with a
very special introduction by the great Jewish writer, Shai Agnon.
Main
point I made to the teachers--if we must send young men and women out to the
battlefield, they must have a sense of purpose, a faith in the need and value
their cause. The Kaddish is a declaration of the faith that a Jew has that his
actions in life are for a nobler cause.
What
then is the Kaddish--it never was a prayer for the dead.
One
sentence became a popular refrain among the Jewish people, comparable to Amen,
and it is recorded in various versions already in parts of the Bible--it has
come down to us in Aramaic, the language of the Jewish people of the time after
the close of the Bible, some 2500 years ago--It is
Yehey
Shmeh Rabba mevorach leolam ulolmei olmaya--May
His Great Name be Blessed for all eternity. This sentence was considered
to be the great declaration of faith of Jews of the day. Note as I said, it’s
in Aramaic, not in Hebrew--Aramaic is to Hebrew, as English is to German,
kissing cousins , but different sounds and rules. By the way, there is a
legend, that it is in Aramaic because angels, who are jealous of the Jewish
people, know Hebrew , but never studied Aramaic, and so they can't interfere
with the prayer when it is recited.
In the
course of time, it became the practice , at the end of a days lesson in the
yeshivah, for the teacher to declare a statement of consolation and faith in a
messianic day, to which the students would respond: Yehey Shmay.
In time, we have the formula, as we know it,
created before the destruction of the second temple:
Yitgadal veyitkadash--Magnified and ssanctified be his
name, in the world he created by his will, may his kingdom reign, in our lives
and in our days, speedily and soon, Amen.
Anyone who has examined the Lord's Prayer of
the Christian scriptures recognizes where the phrases" Hallowed by thy
name, thy kingdom come" originated, in the Aramaic of the Jews of Israel
of 2000 years ago.
By the year 600, the Kaddish was added, not
just to the end of the lecture of the academy, but also to the end of the Torah
reading, before Barchu, and at the end of the worship service. By the 9th
century, it achieved the format and usage that we have today.
. But
what about the deceased, what about mourning. From the time the very first
phrases were formulated, till we see the Kaddish as we know it, it was used only for the academy and only as a prayer
in the service. No one used it for a reference to death.
What
happened?
In the course of time, when a great scholar
would die, at the end of the shivah, another great scholar would get up and
deliver a lesson in his memory, and then conclude the lecture with the Kaddish,
Kaddish derabanan, the scholar's Kaddish.
What
started with great scholars soon spread to lesser scholars. What continue with
lesser scholars soon spread to every man--why should he get the honor--don't I
deserve it too!
Finally, what was said at the end of shivah,
and then said by the mourner in memory of the deceased, soon spread , not only
to the end of a lesson in the academy, but to the end of every service.
What,
finally gave Kaddish its connection with the dead?
There
is a legend, in which a man was so evil and wicked, that it is said that he was
condemned to everlasting torment.
Rabbi
Akiba learned of this, sought out the man's son, taught him a prayer, and the
man's soul was released from its torment. There are 17 different versions as to
what it is that the child learned to say, but not the Kaddish!
Nevertheless, out of that legend, arose the
belief that when a man's son is engaged in some prayer, this serves as a
testimony of merit for the deceased.
By
time, the Kaddish became associated with that prayer, until it became, by the
end of the middle ages, the prayer of obligation for a mourner, even though it
is not found in a single book of Jewish law, not even the shulkhan arukh! Only
in the Polish commentary, the Mapah, of Issereles, do we find the explicit
instruction to recite Kaddish over the course of the year--that is not
until 400 years ago-- what we call the
beginnings of the modern era.
The
custom of saying Kaddish took on one more flourish---by ancient Talmudic tradition,
the souls of even the most wicked are condemned to hell for only twelve months.
There is no such thing as eternal damnation--but who ever could imagine a Jew
who was so wicked as to deserve all twelve months in gehena! Therefore ,the
custom arose of the son saying Kaddish only for eleven months—after all--how
wicked could a father be if the son thought enough of him to say Kaddish.
So, as you see, Kaddish became a prayer said
for the dead, by accident--it never was intended, and never is intended as a prayer
for the dead
Now , what is its significance--
It is most appropriate for recitation at the
funeral, or in the house of mourning, or at the conclusion of study, or the
conclusion of worship precisely because it is a prayer of faith and hope--never
a prayer centered around death--Jews believe that Lo hametim yehallula--the
dead can not praise God, nor those who go down in silence but we, the living, praise god.
What does make it appropriate-- it describes faith
in God's sanctity, and in God' rule, faith in the kingdom of God. In the
version which is used by Yemenite Jews, and also for us, only at the funeral
service itself, it speaks of Balma dehu
atid leithadta--The world in the future which will be renewed, life will be
given to the dead, to everlasting life, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the
rebuilding of the Temple, and the end of idolatry form the earth. The theme is
that of the Jews faith in the triumph of God over idols, of good over evil, of
life over death.
Central
to the Kaddish is that word "kadosh"-Kaddish"-it ties in with
the theme of Kiddush hashem--sanctifying God;s name. Kaddish is a public
declaration--always in a minyan, a public of ten, never less, because it is a
universal declaration of faith.
A Jew is asked , in every act in life to be
engaged in Kiddush hashem--making God' name holy. That is the function of
public worship, since anyone could just as well pray in private. Public worship
enables us to share our faith and our hopes with the world around us. Hence, Kaddish
must be in minyan to be of purpose since it is a public pronouncement.
Its function is to teach us always to be
willing to speak out in public for our causes, for our beliefs, for that which
we value. It also enforces on us the recognition that we are part and parcel of
a community--we pray not by and for ourselves alone, but by and for our fellow
human beings.
Now,
there is one other legend, which gives us an insight in the meaning of the Kaddish
for us.
In the
Talmud, there is a description of God sitting in heaven, and groaning: Every
moment that the children of Israel enter the academy and declare Yehy shey
rabba--the Holy One shakes his head and says:Happy the king who is praised in
his house--but now that the palace , the ancient temple has been destroyed. He
cries:
Woe to the father who had exiled his sons and woe to the
sons who were exiled from the father's presence."(Ber3a).
There
is a peculiar commentary to this sentence on that page in the Talmud, referred
to by the grandsons of Rashi, the Tosafot.
The
phrase Yehy Shamy Rabba should be translated: In the future , God's name shall
be made great---today, Amalek, hatred, maliciousness and will ful hatred,
prevent God's name from being great, from being complete. God himself, in the
struggle against the evil that mankind is capable of, mourns, and he is in
need, of what we say in the Kaddish "Tushbechata venehamata"-even God
is in need of our encouragement and consolation--that evil will be eliminated
from the human heart.
This
very thought brings us right to the very first time that the idea of Kaddish
appears, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of a final cataclysm, in which the forces
of evil among the nations of the world, Gog of Magog, will be finally
destroyed, and then, only then, Hitgadalti ve hitkadashti v nodaati leeynei
goyim rabim--then shall I be magnified and sanctified, and and be known to all
the nations."(Ez 38:23).
Our Kaddish
then is the descendant of this declaration of faith in the ultimate triumph of
the kingdom of God by the prophet Ezekiel. We have many variations on a theme,
from a short, hatzi, Kaddish. To full length Kaddish shalem, , to Kaddish
yatom, mourners Kaddish, to Kaddish derabanan, to the Kaddish deithadta. But
all carry this theme for us, and teach us what is expected of us as Jews, both
ion our prayers and in our lives--not to look back to the dead, but to look
forward, and strive to the future.
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