KADDISH TRANSLITERATION FULL

It was also composed in the aftermath of the Shoah and two world wars, when some theologians were asking out loud, 'Is God dead?' In listening to the piece, you begin to wonder, 'For whom is Kaddish being said?' Is it for humanity, which is about to annihilate itself, or is it for a deceased God? What was Bernstein's inspiration for the symphony?īernstein wrote the piece in the early 1960s, a period of great tension and fear of a nuclear holocaust, which reached its height during the Cuban missile crisis. Probably the quintessential work of this genre is Leonard Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony. Some composers have quoted directly from liturgical texts, some have used Kaddish in the title of their works but referenced other texts, and some have created works without text. Particularly after the Holocaust, the words yitgadal v'yitkadash sh'mei rabba, or 'magnified and sanctified be the great Name,' became endowed with such an intensity of emotion for the Jewish people that they inspired contemporary composers to write musical settings. With that said, the Mourner's Kaddish has nonetheless inspired a number of musical settings. Traditionally, the Rabbis' Kaddish, the Mourner's Kaddish, and the Burial Kaddish are read. The two forms that serve as service dividers, Chatzi Kaddish and Kaddish Shaleim, are normally chanted. In general, two of them do and three do not. Interestingly, it is the only form of Kaddish that includes any reference to death or to resurrection.ĭo these five forms of Kaddish have musical components? Written at the beginning of the Middle Ages, it is recited at the graveside at the time of burial. The fifth form is the little-used Kaddish l'ithad'ta or Burial Kaddish. It wasn't until much later, possibly as late as the thirteenth century, that the fourth kind of Kaddish, Kaddish Yatom or the Mourner's Kaddish, came into the service, probably in response to the severe persecutions of Jews in Germany at the hands of the Crusaders. In this way, Kaddish migrated from the house of study to the house of prayer.

KADDISH TRANSLITERATION FULL

Kaddish Shaleim or the Full Kaddish marks the conclusion of the entire service. The Chatzi Kaddish-also known as Half Kaddish or, in our Reform prayer book, the Reader's Kaddish-marks the conclusion of a particular section of the service. The next two forms of Kaddish serve as prayer markers, telling us where we are in our liturgy. This first form, known as Kaddish d'Rabbanan or the Rabbis' Kaddish, probably dates from the Second Temple period and includes prayers for the blessing of scholars and their disciples, as well as praise of God. Originally, Kaddish was used to conclude a time of study. There are actually five forms of Kaddish.

When most Jews think of the Kaddish, they automatically think of the Mourner's Kaddish, but we understand there are other forms.

He was interviewed by Reform Judaism editor Aron Hirt-Manheimer and managing editor Joy Weinberg.Īn in-depth adult discussion and study guide to this article, written by Cantor Bernard, is also available. The author of The Sound of Sacred Time: A basic music theory textbook to teach the Jewish prayer modes, he is also vice chair of the URJ's Joint Commission on Worship, Music and Religious Living and co-winner of the American Choral Directors Association's 1990 Julius Herford Prize for his doctoral dissertation on Leonard Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony and Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. Cantor Andrew Bernard is a member of the clergy team at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina and volunteer chaplain at the Levine Children's Hospital.

Kaddish transliteration