Kaddish – its origin and meaning
A shiur in memory of Daniel Posner z”l
Exalted and hallowed be His great Name. (Congregation responds: "Amen.")
Throughout the world which He has created according to His Will. May He establish His kingship, bring forth His redemption and hasten the coming of His Moshiach.
(Cong: "Amen.")
In your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon, and say, Amen. (Cong: "Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and to
all eternity, blessed.")
May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity. Blessed and praised, glorified, exalted and extolled, honored, adored and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be
He. (Cong: "Amen.")
Beyond all the blessings, hymns, praises and consolations that are uttered in the world; and say, Amen.(Cong: "Amen.") May there be abundant peace from heaven, and a good life for
us and for all Israel; and say, Amen. (Cong: "Amen.") He Who makes peace (Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur substitute: "the peace") in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen. (Cong: "Amen.")
Source #1: Bereishit Ch. 49
49:1 Jacob called for his sons. [When they came,] he said, 'Come together, and I will tell you what will happen in the course of time.
49:2 Come and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
The Gemara tells that Yaakov Avinu assembled his sons before his death and wished to reveal to them when the Mashiach will come to the world, when suddenly the Shechina (divine presence) left him. Yaakov suspected that this perhaps occurred because one of his sons was unworthy, and so all his sons declared in unison, "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad" ("Hear, O Israel – Hashem our God, Hashem is one!"), announcing to Yaakov that they were all believers in the one G-d. Yaakov was overjoyed to hear his sons' collective declaration, and he praised G-d by exclaiming, "Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto Le'olam Va'ed" ("Blessed is the Name of the Glory of His Kingship, forever!").
Source #2: Talmud Berachot 3a
It has been taught: R. Jose says, I was once travelling on the road, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah of blessed memory appeared and waited for me at the door till I finished my prayer. After I finished my prayer, he said to me: Peace be with you, my master! and I replied: Peace be with you, my master and teacher! And he said to me: My son, why did you go into this ruin? I replied: To pray. He said to me: You ought to have prayed on the road. I replied: I feared lest passers-by might interrupt me. He said to me: You ought to have said an abbreviated prayer. Thus I then learned from him three things: One must not go into a ruin; one may say the prayer on the road; and if one does say his prayer on the road, he recites an abbreviated prayer. He further said to me: My son, what sound did you hear in this ruin? I replied: I heard a divine voice, cooing like a dove, and saying: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world! And he said to me:
By your life and by your head! Not in this moment alone does it so exclaim, but thrice each day does it exclaim thus! And more than that, whenever the Israelites go into the synagogues and schoolhouses and respond: 'May His great name be blessed!' the Holy One, blessed be He, shakes His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in this house! Woe to the father who had to banish his children, and woe to the children who had to be banished from the table of their father!
Source #3: Responsa of Tzitz Eliezer
ירבד )ג( ה"ד ג ןמיס וט קלח רזעילא ץיצ ת"וש
:ל"הזב םש בותכה לע אבו ריעמ ,שידקה שוריפב ד"י ןמיסב ירבד )ג(
לכ ןמ אליעל
תורישה לכמ הלעמל חבתשיו לדגתיש ,אתמחנו אתחבשות אתרישו אתכרב
ראשמ רתוי ןויצ תמחנב םחנתיו םדו רשב ךלמל חבשמו ללכמ םדאש תוחבשתהו
םדא ינב לש תומחנ
יב םא יכ ,וניבהל לכי וניאש :הז לע לאושו ,
לארשי תמחנל סח
.כ"ע ,ךדיאב םייסו דחב חתפ כ"א ,ןויצ תמחנב
כ"ג הנווכה אלא ,ןויצ תמחנב לארשי תמחנל הזב הנווכה ןיא םנמאש ,ונבישאו
יפכ
הכזנשכל וינפל הלודג המחנ יכ ,לוכיבכ אוה ךורב שודקה יפלכ בסומש תויכשמהה
נביש
.ושדקמ תיבו ןויצ ריע שדחמ םמוקיו ה
:ל"הזב בתכש םהרדובא רפסמ םיחוקל הזב ירבדו
תמחנב םחנתי ,רמולכ ,אתמחנו
ז"ל היעשי( רמאנש םחנתמ ה"בקהש ונאצמו ,םדא ינב לש תומחנ ראשמ רתוי ןויצ
ינעמל רמאש ןויכ ,ידבע דוד ןעמלו ינעמל העישוהל תאזה ריעה לע יתונגו )ה"ל
תומחנב םחנתמ אוהש הארי
פב ןנירמאד םש לע םגו ,
לארשיש העשב )'ג( תוכרבד ק"
ענענמ 'וכו ןמא ןינועו =תושרדמ יתבבו תויסנכ יתבב= ר"מדתבו נ"כבב םיסנכנ
,'וכו רמואו ושאר
ןברוח לע הגאד ומכ אלש העש התואב וינפל החמש ןיאש יפל
,ל"כע ונלאגל רהמיו הגאד התואב בורקב םחנתיש ןיללפתמ ונא ,ונתולג לאו תיבה
םהרדובאב שרופמ ירה
אתלימבו ,לוכיבכ אוה ךורב שודקה לע כ"ג בסומ הזש ,'זנכ
Source #4: Yeshaya Ch. 37
ץ ֵח ם ָש ה ֶרוי ־אֹּל ְו תאֹּז ַה רי ִע ָה־ל ֶא אובָי אֹּל רוּשּׁ ַא ךְ ֶל ֶמ־ל ֶא ד ָוד ְי ר ַמ ָא־הֹּכ ןֵכ ָל )גל(
ה ָל ְלֹּס ָהי ֶל ָע ךְֹּפ ְשִי־אֹּל ְו ןֵג ָמ הָנ ֶמ ְד ַקְי־אֹּל ְו
:
ד ָוד ְי־ם ֻא ְנ אובָי אֹּל תאֹּז ַה רי ִע ָה־ל ֶא ְו בוּשָי הּ ָב א ָב־ר ֶש ֲא ךְ ֶר ֶד ַב )דל(
:
)הל(
ס :י ִד ְב ַע ד ִו ָד ן ַע ַמְלוּ יִנֲע ַמ ְל הּ ָעי ִשוֹהְל תאֹּז ַה רי ִע ָה־ל ַע י ִתוֹנַּג ְו
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake.'Commentary of the Malbim
בו םשה לוליח רובעב ,ינעמל היהי הזו .יתונגו )הל(
:דוד תיב תוכלמ רובע
R. Joshua b. Levi said: He who responds, 'Amen, May His great Name be blessed,' with all his might, his decreed sentence12 is torn up, as it
is said, When retribution was annulled13 in Israel, For that the people
offered themselves willingly, Bless ye the Lord:14 why when retribution
was annulled'? Because they blessed the Lord. R. Hiyya b. Abba said in R. Johanan's name: Even if he has a taint of idolatry, he is forgiven: it is written here, 'when retribution was annulled [bifroa' pera'oth]'; whilst elsewhere it is written, And Moses saw that the people were broken loose [parua']; for Aaron had let them loose.1
Source #6: Masechet Sofrim (8
thCentury, Eretz Yisrael)
At some point, Kaddish transitioned in popular perception to a mourner’s prayer. Masekhes Soferim (19:9) tells of the chazan in Jerusalem who, after the prayer services on Shabbat, would bless mourners and recite a slightly abridged Kaddish to console them.
Source #7: Or Zarua - R. Yitzchak ben R. Moshe of Vienna was born ca. 1180, and died ca. 1250. He was a student of Ra`avyah and other Tosafists in Ashkenaz, and was the teacher of Maharam of Rothenburg and other Tosafists. He is best known for his Or Zarua, one of the most important halachic compendia containing the decisions of Ashkenazic rishonim.
Rabbi Akiva was strolling through a cemetery when he saw a naked man, black as charcoal, carrying much wood and hurrying like a horse."Stop!" the rabbi ordered him. And the man stopped. "What is with you?" demanded Rabbi Akiva, "What is this harsh labor of yours? If you are a slave and your master is so harsh, then I will free you. And if you are poor, let me make you wealthy." The man answered, "Please, rabbi, do not delay me! My supervisors may become very angered if I am late!" Rabbi Akiva responded, "Who are you and what do you do?" The man replied, "I am dead. Every day, they send me to chop wood upon which they burn me every night."
Rabbi Akiva asked, "And when you were in this world, what was your work?" "I was a tax collector," the man answered. "I would favor the wealthy and persecute the poor." "So," asked the rabbi, "have you heard anything from your supervisors about any way you could be redeemed from your punishment?"
"Yes," the man replied. "I heard from them, but it is something that could never happen. They said that if I had a son and if that son would
stand among the congregation and say kaddish and the congregation would answer, "Amen! Y'hay shmai rabba m'vorach!"—then they could acquit me from my punishment."
"But," he continued, "I did not leave a son behind. True, my wife was pregnant when I died, but I do not know whether she gave birth to a boy. And if she did, who would teach him Torah? I do not have a single friend in the world!"
On the spot, Rabbi Akiva resolved to search for that child. He asked the man for his name. "My name is Ukba. My wife was Shoshiva. My town was Lanuka'a."
Immediately, Rabbi Akiva set out for that town. When he arrived there, he asked the townspeople about Ukba. "May his bones grind in hell!" they replied. He asked about his wife Shoshiva and they said, "May her name and her memory be erased!"
He asked about her child and they said, "She had a boy and he is uncircumcised." The people hated her so much, they hadn't even bothered to circumcise her child. Without further delay, Rabbi Akiva took this child and circumcised him. He sat the child before him to teach him, but the child would not learn. So he fasted for forty days. After forty days, a voice came from heaven: "Rabbi Akiva, what are you fasting for?" He replied, "Master of the Universe! Have I not already made myself a guarantor before You for the lad?" Immediately, G_d opened the boy's heart and the rabbi was able to teach him how to read Torah and how to say the Shma Yisrael and the Silent Prayer and Grace After Meals. Then he stood him before the congregation and he said Barchu and they answered him. He said Kaddish and they answered him, "Amen! Y'hay shmai rabba m'vorach!"
His father was freed and came straight to Rabbi Akiva in a dream. "Let your heart rest assured that you saved me from the judgment of Gehinom."
Source #10: Sefer Gesher HaChaim – The
significance of the Kaddish
Source #11: SHEVUT YAAKOV
Rabbi Jacob ben Joseph Reischer was born ca. 1670 in Prague, where he studied in his youth. He served in various rabbinical positions in Prague, Ansbach (Bavaria), Worms, and Metz (Germany). His book of responsa, Shevut Yaakov,
was widely circulated. He died in 1733.
“One of the great Achronim, the Shvus Yaakov, spoke about this matter in his sefer. He writes that reciting Kaddish is relevant to women, especially since saying Kaddish brings a great benefit to the souls of the parents. However, he writes that girls should not be allowed to say
Kaddish in shul, but only in a gathering of a minyan of men in their homes, when Divrei Torah is recited or prayers are held, after which one may recite Kaddish l’ilui nishmas their father.
“The gaon and author of the Sefer Tshuva M’Ahava, writes that in Amsterdam a case occurred in which a man died without sons, and the daughters recited Kaddish (the implication is that they recited Kaddish in shul). The sages in town did not prevent it and the Chavas Yair (the gaon Rav Yair Bachrach) wrote in his tshuvos that indeed Kaddish is relevant to women too, and it seems that her saying Kaddish brings benefit and nachas ruach to her father’s soul, because she is his progeny. Nevertheless he writes that this minhag of letting a girl say Kaddish should not be permitted since it is an innovation which will introduce further breaches, as we see happened with the early reformers. They began with changes that opposed the principles of Judaism, and in the end, they totally uprooted major laws of Judaism… He nevertheless ends his words saying that he saw a nice custom in the holy community of Prague in which elderly men and women gather in the Ezras Noshim to say Tehilim after shacharis, and after finishing the entire Tehilim, orphan girls would say Kaddish. But such a thing should not be carried out in a shul designated for prayer.
“In conclusion, the Tshuva M’Ahava says that while reciting Kaddish should not be allowed in shul, in another place like a home, or in the Ezras Noshim, etc. girls whose parents did not leave behind sons may be allowed to recite Kaddish”
