Simanim 25-26 - The Final Portions of the Morning Prayer

 

SIMAN 25 - KEDUSHA DESIDRA AND ALEINU

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The three verses recited together with their Aramaic translations are known as the "kedusha de-sidra" - sanctifying God's name "in order."  So great is the merit of this part of our prayers that our sages tell us that the whole world subsists because of it.  Without the ORDER of this kedusha, the world  would disintegrate into DIS-order (1).

 

Rashi explains the unique standing of this short praise.  In Talmudic times, it was the custom to study Torah after the Amida prayer and Tachanun (just as many synagogues today have a short "halakha yomit" - "daily law" - after shacharit).  But since people were rushed, a standard, shortened Torah learning was introduced.  This prayer consisted of three verses exalting God together with their Aramaic translation so that even simple people whose spoken language was Aramaic could understand (2).

 

In other words, the world is kept from falling apart by the Torah study of simple Jews.  This same lesson emerged from an important event in the life of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.  Rabbi Shimon and his son Eliezer secluded themselves in a cave for twelve years, hiding from their Roman oppressors.  There they spent day and night studying the revealed and hidden Torah, sustaining themselves from the carob tree and spring which miraculously appeared there.  When the authorities stopped looking for them, they left the cave.  

 

So great was Rabbi Shimon's success in devoting himself to Torah and ignoring worldly necessities that he actually came to disdain the need of ordinary people to devote themselves to earning a livelihood.  For this attitude of disdain, a heavenly voice ordered Rabbi Shimon and his son to go back to the cave for another year - presumably so they could return to study with a more sensitive eye toward the broad spectrum of human needs.  

 

But even after that year when he emerged a second time, Rabbi Shimon was convinced that the world only subsisted because of the merit of those who were fully devoted to Torah - mainly himself and his son.  This was obviously a tremendous burden for him.  Then he saw a simple man running by with two fragrant myrtle branches in honor of the approaching Sabbath day.  Rabbi Shimon asked him why he needed two branches when one would suffice, and the man answered that they were in honor of the two different aspects of the Sabbath day - "zakhor" (remember) and "shamor" (keep).  

 

Suddenly, Rabbi Shimon realized that the mystery and complexity of Torah was meaningful even to simple Jews - on their level.  This man did not know all of the fine legal points that relate to the dual nature of the Shabbat, nor did he know anything about the mystical secrets of this duality.  But it was important to him to honor Shabbat with two fragrant myrtle branches and not just one.  He realized that people at this level of observance and study also help sustain the world, and his mind was set at ease (3).

 

ALEINU

 

The Kitzur records a tradition, mentioned in the (early Medieval) Kol Bo (siman 16) that the "aleinu" prayer - which entered the liturgy as part of the Rosh HaShana musaf (where it remains) and was later added to the end of each daily prayer service - was originated by Yehoshua after he conquered Yericho.

 

Seen in this context, the prayer stands in stark contrast to the standard "my god can lick your god" approach to victory which seems to have been common in the pagan world.  Such an approach ultimately places the victor's gods on the same plane with those of the vanquished.  In contrast, the "aleinu" prayer emphasizes from the outset that HaShem is God of ALL - not just of war (in fact war is not mentioned at all): "Let us praise the Master of All."  It then goes on to aver that the pagan gods have no reality at all - "they pray to vanity and emptiness."

 

It would even be instructive to compare this with the "Song of the Sea" sung by Moshe and the children of Israel after HaShem drowned the Egyptian soldiers at the Red Sea.  At that stage in our history, the Jewish people were still at an immature stage of faith in God.  Our sages say that the Jews in Egypt had sunk into "forty-nine gates of impurity;" and the forty-nine days from the Exodus until the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai correspond to the forty nine levels they had to ascend until they were fit to receive the Torah (4).

 

The Song of the Sea is written in a style which speaks even to that level of faith.  It refers to HaShem as "a man of war," and describes in detail how He avenged Himself of the Egyptians and their gods.

 

But the Jews who entered Canaan forty years later were a far different nation.  After encountering the revelation on Mount Sinai and then receiving the rest of the Torah, after daily experiencing God's providence directly through the manna, this nation - most of whom had never experienced servitude and had never even seen pagan worship - was at a high level of religious faith.  After the miraculous defeat of Yericho, their thoughts were readily attuned to the need to praise HaShem as the master of the entire universe, to forthrightly affirm that pagan gods have no existence at all, for "there is none other" than HaShem.

 

 

SIMAN 26 - MOURNERS' KADDISH

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We learned about the kaddish in general in siman 15.  Here Rav Ganzfried relates specifically to the special mourners' kaddish - the custom that certain kaddishim in the prayer service are specially reserved for congregants in their prescribed period of mourning (these are explained in siman 216).

 

The Kitzur refers to a number of midrashim which relate how the kaddish of the son can save the father from the torments of judgment.  In the most well-known version, Rabbi Akiva encounters a man - actually a ghost - suffering a Sysiphean torment as a result of his grave sins.  Rabbi Akiva learns that the man has a young (in some versions, unborn) son, and arranges for the son to receive a brit mila and a Torah education.  Eventually, the son reaches the age where he can "bless in the congregation" (some versions explicitly refer to kaddish or barkhu).  Soon Rabbi Akiva encounters the ghost of the father, who tells him that as a result of the son's behavior he has been released from his punishment (5).

 

The Chatam Sofer, in a responsum relating to the customs of kaddish (6), presents an important insight into this story and with it an important principle in Judaism.  He explains that what is special about kaddish or barkhu is not that the person is saying something so valuable.  Rather, what is special is that these are RESPONSIVE parts of the service, and as such the one saying them is the impetus for the PUBLIC sanctification of God's name.  When the youngster says kaddish, the entire congregation responds "May His great name be blessed for ever and ever!"

 

WOMEN AND KADDISH YATOM (se'if 20)

 

The Kitzur brings two opinions regarding whether women may say kaddish.  The first opinion (in some editions the source in Knesset Yechezkel is listed) is that a daughter may say kaddish in a private minyan (but not in Beit Knesset); the second opinion (some editions list the Chavot Yair) is that she may not.

 

The brevity of expression in each case is a bit misleading, and actually there is more agreement than there seems.  Even the lenient opinion relates only to a daughter saying kaddish where there is no son - not to a daughter having an independent obligation to say kaddish.  And even the strict opinion forbids a woman saying kaddish only because it is against the prevailing custom - but many cities in Europe had a custom that daughters DID say kaddish, and the Chavot Yair presumably would have no objection to this.

 

It seems that in a place with such an established custom, there is no objection to having a daughter with no brothers (or whose brothers are not saying kaddish) say kaddish in a private minyan; but there is no solid precedent for allowing a grown daughter to say kaddish in Beit Knesset, or if she has a brother who is saying kaddish.

 

Some people are surprised that a woman is able to say kaddish, since it is a "devar she-bikedusha" which requires a quorum of grown men - she is leading a prayer which requires a quorum which may not include her.  This surprise may be diminished when we recall that on the contrary, the main institution of kaddish was precisely for those orphans who could not join a prayer quorum and therefore could not lead prayers - namely, minor orphan boys (se'if 14).

 

This brings us back to the point of the Chatam Sofer, that the special quality of kaddish is that the one saying it induces OTHERS to sanctify God's name.

 

THE ORDER OF KADDISHIM AND THE PURPOSE OF KADDISH

 

It is surprising that most of the chapter on the mourner's kaddish doesn't discuss the kaddish per se, but only the order of precedence in saying kaddish.  This order is almost irrelevant today for kaddish, since almost all synagogues now have all mourners recite kaddish in unison (though the order is still important for deciding who may be the prayer leader).  But the fact that so much space is devoted to this subject contains an important message.

 

The need for such an elaborate ordering arises out of the desire to avoid arguments and friction between different mourners each of whom wants precedence in saying kaddish in order to honor his own parent.  The pre-established order is the cure for this kind of conflict (see what we wrote on siman 23 se'if 9), but the Kitzur at the end of this chapter gives us something even better - preventive medicine.

 

The kaddish begins with the words "May His great name be magnified and sanctified".  Rav Ganzfried reminds us that the greatest sanctification of God's name is not uttering the words "yitgadal va-yitkadash" but rather the sanctification of God's name which the mourner effects through his behavior day in and day out.  Creating conflict and ill-will over the right to say kaddish makes this beautiful prayer an instrument of DESECRATING - instead of sanctifying - God's holy name.  The mourner should always be aware that the main elevation of the parent's spirit will be effected by good deeds and Torah study, and not through reciting kaddish (7). 

 

 

 

Endnotes:

(1)Sota 49a.

(2) Actually, the gemara also includes the merit of the kaddish said after an aggadic sermon.  These sermons were generally for popular audiences and delivered in the vernacular Aramaic, and the kaddish said afterwards is of course also in Aramaic, so the significance is the same, as Rashi points out.

(3) Shabbat 33b.

(4) Responsa Chatam Sofer VII:42, Divrei Chakhamim OC 99.

(5) See for example Kalla Rabati 2:9, Pirkei de-R. Eliezer Zuta 17 (at the end).

(6) Responsa Chatam Sofer Orach Chaim 159.

(7) See Zohar Chadash, Ruth 84c.