Approximately three weeks ago, on the day that marked 11 months since my father’s passing, I stopped saying the mourner’s Kaddish. I am at present a mourner without the consolation of this most magnificent and mysterious prayer.
The unparalleled Aramaic words of the Kaddish prayer, “Yisgadal v’yiskadash Shmei rabba (may His great Name be magnified and sanctified)”—followed by the proclamation of the respondents, “May His great Name be blessed, forever and ever” (Sifri, Devarim 306)—bestow upon a mourner the most powerful of emotions, to the extent that he almost has the sensation that he is meeting his deceased parent every time he utters them. This prayer evokes such strong feelings that it has inspired many musicians to write compositions, the best-known example of which is probably Leonard Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony.
Although the association of Kaddish with mourning is mentioned in maseches Sofrim 19:9, the Kaddish actually makes no reference to bereavement. The only Kaddish that even alludes to
death and resurrection is the one that is recited immediately after burial. Yet for 11long months a son intones the Kaddish for his deceased parent. This custom is usually attributed to a son’s abil-
ity to atone for his parent’s failings and thus lessen the parent’s punishment in the World to Come.
This idea is the theme of a renowned Midrash. Rabbi Akiva (or, according to other versions, a different Sage) once met a spirit who was eternally condemned to chop wood for a fire in which he was being perpetually consumed. When the Sage learned that the departed had left a son, he sought him out, brought him back to the way of Torah and had him recite Kaddish for his deceased father. The father subsequently appeared to the Sage in a dream to inform him that his sentence had been commuted in his son’s merit (see Ohr Zarua, Shabbos II; Rabbeinu Bechaya on Devarim 21:8).
The word kaddish, which means sanctification, and the Kad- dish prayer, which expresses the sanctification of G-d’s Name and envisions a time when G-d will be recognized by all the nations of the world, doesn’t make mention of any of this. In fact, many Rishonim, including the Rambam, never mention a mourner’s Kaddish at all, even as they ordain its recitation on other occasions.
Originally, Kaddish was recited at the conclusion of a period of study. This first form, known as Kaddish d’Rabbanan or the Rabbis’ Kaddish, dates from the Second Beis Hamikdash and includes prayers on behalf of scholars and their disciples, as well as praise of G-d. Kaddish subsequently journeyed from the house of study to the house of prayer. Kaddish is only said in the presence of a minyan, since its essential purpose is public sanctification.
Drawing its key lines from passages in Tehillim (113:2), Daniel (2:20) and Yechezkel (38:23), the Kaddish prayer expresses a yearning for the establishment of G-d’s kingdom on Earth andhas a strong eschatological subtext, with many versions explicitly beseeching G-d for the Messiah’s arrival. How does all that relate to—and how can all that compensate for—the passing of a parent?
At birth, every person is charged with the duty to conquer himself and his own ego and to redeem the world. Through his fulfillment of mitzvos throughout his life- time, the material realm becomes permeated by the light of the spiritual and is thus elevated.
Any person who passes away and leaves the world unredeemed is therefore in need of atonement. As our Sages proclaimed, “Any generation in which the Beis Hamikdash is not rebuilt is considered to have destroyed it” (Yerushalmi, Yoma 1:1). The agent for that atonement is a son, who continues his father’s efforts to redeem the world. And the instrument for that atonement is the Kaddish, which hastens the establishment of G-d’s kingdom.
The Kaddish thus emphatically conveys that every individual has the ability to bring the whole of creation to spiritual completion, and that every death is tragic. While death cannot be reversed, the life that came to an end can still be redeemed. If the father failed to redeem the world, the son can now endeavor to complete the task in his stead.
The son therefore says, “May His great Name be magnified and sanctified.” To which all those gathered say, “Amen.”•
This article is reprinted with permission from the AMI Magazine, Jan 1, 2014
