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Article: Kaddish
- Article from:
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
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Kaddish
Kaddish ("holiness") is an ancient Jewish prayer praising and glorifying God, recited at fixed points of the public prayer of the synagogue, at funeral services, and by mourners of a deceased parent or close relatives.
Kaddish was not composed at one specific time and in its formative stage did not have a fixed text. The earliest form of Kaddish may be traced to the period of the Tanaim, after the destruction of the second temple (70 C.E.), when the initial section,
yehe shemeh rabbah mevarakh le'olam ule-almei almaya
("may His great name be blessed forever and for all eternity"), was recited after public discourses on Sabbaths and Festivals. This refrain is a paraphrase of the ...