May His great name be exalted and sanctified Best known is the Mourner’s Kaddish (Kaddish Yatom), but there are also versions known as Full Kaddish (Kadesh Shalem), Half Kaddish (Chetzi Kaddish), and Scholar’s Kaddish (Kaddish d’Rabbanan), and there are guidelines as to which version of Kaddish is said on which occasion. There are a number of versions of the Kaddish prayer. Kaddish is then said again on behalf of a parent on every yahrzeit (anniversary of their death). Out of concern that saying Kaddish on behalf of a deceased parent every day for 12 months after their death would imply the parent was a very wicked person expected to spend the maximum time in Gehenna, the practice developed of reducing the time frame by one month and saying Kaddish on behalf of a deceased parent for 11 months after their death. However, a countervailing influence was the Jewish belief that the soul of even the most evil person spends no more than one year in Gehenna (the Jewish version of hell) before being released to go to Olam Ha’ba (the ‘World to Come’). The underlying idea is that it reflects well on the deceased if they brought up their child to be able to stand up and publicly affirm the goodness of God even in the face of the overwhelming personal loss of a parent or other close relative. Later again, although there is uncertainty as to exactly when, it began to be said by mourners on behalf of their deceased relatives in order to accrue religious merit to them. Then it was adopted and said by congregations when they finished a section of a prayer service, hence the current practice of Kaddish being said a number of times during a prayer service, and especially after major prayers. Originally Kaddish was said by rabbis when they completed giving a sermon. As the core of the prayer is a public affirmation of God’s goodness, it is said only in the presence of a minyan (prayer quorum) and not by a person who is praying alone. The name of the Kaddish prayer indicates holiness and reflects that the prayer sanctifies God by publicly affirming His goodness and holiness. To the untrained ear it can be difficult to distinguish the two languages as they are related and share common features, including much vocabulary, but they are nevertheless distinct languages and each has a separate system of grammar, including verb conjugations. This is because it stems from a time in history (the period of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, 516BCE – 70CE) when many Jews used Aramaic as their everyday language rather than Hebrew. The Kaddish prayer is in Aramaic, not Hebrew, except for the final sentence.
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