Avodah Lesson 7 The Kaddish Prayer: Remembering and Affirming God

Transcription

1 Avodah Lesson 7 The Kaddish Prayer: Remembering and Affirming God INTRODUCTION The goal of this lesson is to introduce students to the different forms and uses of the Kaddish Jh S e prayer and to help them understand its relevance in their own lives. The Hebrew root of the word kaddish is J-s-e, which means holy, a theme that runs through many of the CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life lessons. It might be particularly helpful to refer to Level 4 Avodah Lesson 6, Kiddush: Sanctifying Our Lives Through Fixed Prayer and Personal Feelings of Holiness, as well as the Level 3 Torah lessons, which deal extensively with the concept of holiness in our tradition. The Kaddish prayer is a doxology an expression of utmost praise and adoration for God. Some scholars believe that the origins of the prayer can be found in lines from the Book of Daniel (2:20) and Psalms (113:2), 1 though whether or not any form of the Kaddish prayer was said in Temple times is not clear. In any case, Kaddish most likely began as a concluding prayer to rabbinic study, and was recited in Aramaic, the language spoken by the common people, rather than Hebrew, used mainly by the more educated leadership. 2 It was not until somewhere between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries C.E. that Kaddish became a memorial prayer for the dead, according to scholar Jakob J. Petuchowski: The custom originated in Germany at the time of the persecutions which accompanied the crusades. 3 The practice of saying Kaddish for deceased parents began no earlier than the fifteenth century, but after that, both kinds of Kaddish custom spread very rapidly throughout the Jewish world, notes Petuchowski. 4 Despite the popular association of Kaddish with memorializing the dead, variations of the Kaddish prayer perform a number of functions, most notably in the synagogue prayer service. According to Rabbi Arthur Green, Its primary function is to distinguish between various parts of the service. When a particular section of the liturgy is concluded, a kaddish is recited. 5 But the words of the Kaddish prayer have much greater meaning they provide an opportunity for every Jew to actively affirm his or her belief in God and faith in the rule of God s law: May God rule in our own day, in our own lives, and in the life of all Israel, and let us say: Amen. Let God s great name be blessed for ever and ever. 1 Harvey J. Fields, B chol L vavcha: A Commentary (rev. ed.) (New York: UAHC Press, 2001), p Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House LTD, 1996), p Jakob J. Petuchowski, Kaddish and Memorial Services, in Prayerbook Reform in Europe (New York: World Union for Progressive Judaism, 1968), p Ibid. 5 Arthur Green, These Are the Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights Publishing, 1999), p

2 206 Avodah Lesson 7 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life This declaration punctuates the prayer service and brings us back from the many places to which our minds may wander to the compelling reminder of the awesome, ineffable God before whom we are standing. ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS Avodah is the work we do to find sacred connections to God, community, and self. Engaging in the work of avodah can bring order, beauty, meaning, and insight to our lives. The practice of prayer can help me grow through personal reflection, can increase my connection to the Jewish people, and can strengthen my relationship with God. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS 1. How is striving for a connection to God, avodah, like work? 2. What can I learn about what it means to be a Jew through the practice of prayer? 3. How can I develop a personal practice of prayer? 4. How can I experience kavanah and feel moments of connection to God? 5. How does the practice of fixed prayer keep my relationships with myself, with God, and with the Jewish people in good shape? QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED Why are there different forms of the Kaddish prayer, and what are their roles in the worship service? What is the meaning and the importance of the Kaddish prayer? EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING Students will interpret key concepts in the Kaddish prayer. Students will write their own interpretation of God s rule in their own lives. Students will identify and explain the meaning of the root of the word Kaddish. LESSON OVERVIEW Set Induction (10 minutes) Memory Check: Review of J-s-e (5 minutes) Form and Function: The Kaddish Prayer in the Worship Service (10 15 minutes)

3 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life The Kaddish Prayer: Remembering and Affirming God 207 Getting Closer to the Text (10 15 minutes) CHAI Quick-Quiz (5 minutes) Conclusion (5 minutes) MATERIALS NEEDED A copy of Gates of Prayer for every one or two students (any prayer book may be used for this lesson; if a prayer book other than Gates of Prayer is used, the teacher can simply indicate the corresponding pages) Chalkboard/whiteboard and chalk/markers or chart paper and markers Making Sense worksheet (page 211) Letter to parents (page 212) READING RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS Fields, Harvey J. B chol L vavcha: A Commentary (rev. ed.). New York: UAHC Press, 2001, pp Scheman, Nosson. The Kaddish Prayer: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic Sources. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mesorah Publications, Ltd., LESSON VOCABULARY J r «J shoresh proclaimed doxology Root; in Hebrew grammar, the (usually) 3-letter root that conveys meaning. Announced in an official way. An expression of utmost praise and adoration for God. LESSON PLAN SET INDUCTION (10 MINUTES) This set induction activity is designed to help the students go through the process of bringing order to seemingly random listings of words and to understand that the spaces between the columns are boundaries that make comprehension possible. Later in the lesson, they will learn how different forms of the Kaddish prayer serve as meaningful boundaries within the worship service. 1. Distribute to students the Making Sense activity on page 211 and ask them to see if any of the columns there make sense (have a common theme or meaning).

4 208 Avodah Lesson 7 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life 2. Next, ask the students to reorder the words so that each column has a common theme or meaning. (They can do this individually or in small groups, depending on what works better in your particular class.) The teacher can assist students who may have some difficulty with this task. 3. When the students have completed step 2, ask them to each write a sentence describing each new column. The column letters will vary, depending on where the students put the words. (For example: the words in my column t are about cities in Israel; the words in my column c are about special foods that we eat on certain Jewish holidays; and the words in my column d are about things we do or see in the synagogue.) 4. Ask the students how they felt when they looked at the original columns (frustrated, confused, etc.). Besides putting the words in columns by themes or meanings, what helps us understand that there even are columns? (Titles and the spaces between the columns, which function as boundaries.) 5. Explain to the students that they will be studying a very important prayer in our liturgy, the Kaddish prayer, which has many important meanings in our prayer service, but which also functions as a boundary between certain parts of the service. LEARNING ACTIVITIES Memory Check: Review of J-s-e (5 minutes) 1. Write the letters J-s-e on the chalkboard or flip chart. Ask the students if they remember any word(s) that come from this Hebrew shoresh (kadosh, kiddush, k dushah, kaddish). Note: This subject was covered in Level 4 Avodah Lesson 6, Kiddush: Sanctifying Our Lives Through Fixed Prayer and Personal Feelings of Holiness. 2. Remind the students that from this important Hebrew shoresh come the words that mean holiness. How can we define holiness? (Having a special relationship with God, trying to act in the good ways that are like God, etc.) 3. Tell the students that today they will be learning about the Kaddish prayer. Write Jh S e on the board or flip chart, and circle or ask a student volunteer to circle the letters of the shoresh in the word. Form and Function: The Kaddish Prayer in the Worship Service (10 15 minutes) 1. Ask the students if they have heard of the Kaddish prayer and what they know about it. Some (if not all) students will respond that it is a prayer for the dead, a prayer we say to remember someone who has died, etc. 2. Tell the students to look at the chart on page 24 of their workbooks called Kaddish in the Reform Shabbat Service. 6 6 There are minor variations when Jh S e is said in other services.

5 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life The Kaddish Prayer: Remembering and Affirming God If your class is able to read the prayer together in Hebrew, 7 do so. If you have copies of Gates of Prayer, distribute them to the students and ask them to turn to page 146, or you can use the Kaddish prayer on page 24 of their workbooks. (If your class is not able to read the Hebrew, move to step 4.) 4. Ask the students to get into as comfortable a position as possible and to close their eyes. (They may want to cover their eyes with their hands to allow for greater concentration.) Ask them to picture a beautiful basket into which they will now put all the things they are thinking about. (Give them about ten seconds to do this.) Ask the students to take a very deep breath, to relax, and to listen carefully to your voice. 5. Slowly and softly read the English translation of the Kaddish prayer to them (pages in the workbook). 6. Tell the students to open their eyes and ask them: What do you think is the main idea or theme of the Kaddish prayer? (Public declaration of love or praise for God, desire for everyone to follow God s laws, etc.) Why do you think we say this prayer between major elements of the prayer service? (It serves as a boundary between different parts of the service; it remind us to pay attention because we affirm our belief in God for ever and ever.) Getting Closer to the Text (10 15 minutes) 1. Ask the students to turn to Getting Closer to the Text on page 25 in their workbooks. Invite a volunteer to read Text 1 from the Kaddish prayer ( May God rule in our own day, in our own lives, and in the life of all Israel, and let us say: Amen ). The students can answer the following questions in whole group discussion: What do you think this sentence means? What do you think it means for God to rule in our lives? Ask the students to answer question 3 privately in their workbooks. If they feel comfortable, they can share their answers with the class. 2. Ask the students to look at Text 2 and discuss with them the question: What could the words God s great name be blessed mean? (That we thank God, that we love God, that God s goodness should be successful, etc.) Tell the students to then work in groups of two or three, if possible, to review Text 2 and to decide the correct answer(s) to the question. Give the students about five minutes to do this, and then ask the groups to report. (The correct answer is d.) CHAI Quick-Quiz (5 minutes) Ask the students to turn to page 26 in their workbooks and answer the question: What is the shoresh (the root) of the word Kaddish and what does it mean? Answer: J-s-e means holy. 7 Most of the words are actually Aramaic, the language that was spoken by Jews from the time of the Babylonian exile (586 B.C.E.) until about the fifth century of the common era (Fields, p. 225).

6 210 Avodah Lesson 7 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life CONCLUSION (5 MINUTES) 1. Remind the students that today they have studied a prayer so important in Judaism that it is repeated several times during any synagogue prayer service at which a minyan is present. Though many people think that the Kaddish prayer is a prayer for the dead, they have learned that the words are not about death at all but are an affirmation of our belief in God. The discipline of saying the Kaddish prayer and affirming this belief helps keep us focused on what s truly important: behaving in the way that God wants us to. 2. Send home the letter to parents (page 212) and ask the students to answer any questions their parents may have about the Kaddish prayer.

7 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life 211 Making Sense Look at the three columns below. Can you reorganize the words so that each column makes sense or has a common theme? (Each column must have exactly five entries.) Column t Apples and honey Jerusalem Sanctuary Congregation Challah Column t Column c Tel Aviv Latkes Rabbi Haifa Matzah Column c Column d Prayer book Eilat Worship Hamantashen Beersheva Column d The meaning or theme of my Column t is. The meaning or theme of my Column c is. The meaning or theme of my Column d is. Copyright 2004 URJ Press

8 212 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life Dear Parents, Today we studied the Kaddish prayer in religious school. We learned that even though many people think of this as a prayer for the departed, there s really no mention of death or dying in it at all. Kaddish, in all its five forms,* is a prayer that extols God s name and affirms our belief in God, even though God is beyond our praise and our adoration. In that sense, we might think of the Kaddish prayer as a reminder to ourselves a reminder to live in the ways that God wants us to. When we do have the sad occasion to recite Mourner s Kaddish, we struggle to focus on our belief and faith in God, despite the moments of greatest sadness each of us must sometimes encounter. Please ask your child to be your teacher by explaining some of the interesting things we studied about the Kaddish prayer in class today. And, as always, feel free to speak with me if you have any questions or comments you d like to share. Sincerely, *Two forms of the Kaddish prayer appear in the Reform Shabbat service: the Half Kaddish, which effectively separates major elements of the service, and the Mourner s Kaddish said at the conclusion to remember those who have died. Copyright 2004 URJ Press