Editing Kaddish (section)

==Mourner's Kaddish==<!-- [[Mourner's Kaddish]] redirects here -->
{{see also|Bereavement in Judaism}}
'''Mourner's Kaddish''' is said in most communities at all prayer services and certain other occasions. It is written in [[Aramaic languages|Aramaic]].<ref>[http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1737300/jewish/Why-is-the-Kaddish-Recited-in-Aramaic.htm "Why is the Kaddish in Aramaic?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812052907/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1737300/jewish/Why-is-the-Kaddish-Recited-in-Aramaic.htm |date=2014-08-12 }} chabad.org</ref> It is traditionally recited several times, most prominently at or towards the end of the service, after the [[Aleinu]], closing [[Psalms]] or, on the Sabbath, following the ''Anim Zemirot'' hymn. In most communities, Kaddish is recited during the eleven months after the death of a parent,<ref>Shulchan Aruch YD 376:4. The Mourner's Kaddish is recited for eleven months rather than twelve so as not to imply that one's parent was a sinner.</ref> and then at every anniversary of the death (the [[Yahrzeit]]). Technically, there is no obligation to recite Kaddish for other relatives, even though there is an obligation to mourn for them.<ref>The Shulchan Aruch and commentaries referenced above mention only reciting Kaddish for a parent.  However the Ben Ish Hai (Parshat Va-yechi 15) writes that if somebody does not have children, it is proper to find somebody to recite Kaddish for them.</ref>

Customs for reciting the Mourner's Kaddish vary markedly among various communities. In Sephardi synagogues, the custom is that all the mourners stand and chant the Kaddish together. In [[Ashkenazi]] synagogues before the 19th century, one mourner was chosen to lead the prayer on behalf of the rest, but gradually over the last two centuries, most (but certainly not all) communities have adopted the Sephardi custom.<ref>After a cholera plague in 1831, there were so many mourners that the original custom would not allow them to say kaddish with any frequency, so Rabbi [[Akiva Eger]] allowed them to recite Kaddish together. Over time, this practice became the Ashkenazi norm. See [https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/6892/rov-in-a-time-of-cholera/ Rov in a time of cholera] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420155514/https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/6892/rov-in-a-time-of-cholera/ |date=2020-04-20 }}. Other communities, most notably the community of Frankfurt am Main, maintained the original practice.</ref> In many Reform synagogues, the entire congregation recites the Mourner's Kaddish together. This is sometimes said to be for those victims of the Holocaust who have no one left to recite the Mourner's Kaddish on their behalf and in support of the mourners.<ref name=":0" /> In some congregations (especially Reform and Conservative ones), the Rabbi reads a list of the deceased who have a [[Bereavement in Judaism|Yahrzeit]] on that day (or who have died within the past month), and then ask the congregants to name any people they are mourning for. Some synagogues, especially Orthodox and Conservative ones, multiply the number of times that the Mourner's Kaddish is recited, for example by reciting a separate Mourner's Kaddish after both Aleinu and then each closing Psalm. Other synagogues limit themselves to one Mourner's Kaddish at the end of the service.  And still in other communities where they preserve the original custom to only allow one person to recite each Kaddish, the number of Kaddishim recited depends on how many mourners are present.

Notably, the Mourner's Kaddish does not mention death at all, but instead praises God. Though the Kaddish is often popularly referred to as the "Jewish Prayer for the Dead," that designation more accurately belongs to the prayer called "[[El Malei Rachamim]]", which specifically prays for the soul of the deceased. The Mourner's Kaddish can be more accurately represented as an expression of "justification for judgment" by the mourners on their loved ones' behalf. It is believed that mourners adopted this version of the Kaddish around the 13th century during harsh persecution of Jews by crusaders in Germany because of the opening messianic line about God bringing the dead back to life, although this line is no longer said in the [[Nusach Ashkenaz|Ashkenazi rite]].{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Women and the Mourner's Kaddish ===
There is evidence of some women saying the Mourner's Kaddish for their parents at the grave, during [[Shiva (Judaism)|shiva]], and in daily prayers since the 17th century.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} Rabbi [[Yair Bacharach]] concluded that technically a woman can recite the Mourner's Kaddish, but since this is not the common practice, it should be discouraged.<ref>The ruling is brought in Pitchei Teshuvah YD 376:3.</ref> As such, women reciting kaddish is controversial in some Orthodox communities, and it is almost unheard of in [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi communities]]. Nevertheless, Rabbi [[Aharon Soloveichik]] ruled that in our time, we should permit women to say Kaddish,<ref>Ahron Soloveichik, Od Yosef Yisrael Beni Hai, [https://tablet.otzar.org/#/b/639517/p/105/t/1651589639300/fs/0/start/0/end/0/c/1651589723984 page 99-100] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501090902/https://tablet.otzar.org/#/b/639517/p/105/t/1651589639300/fs/0/start/0/end/0/c/1651589723984 |date=2022-05-01 }}. His formulation is that we surely should not stop a woman from saying Kaddish, but he does not encourage the practice.</ref> and this is a common (but not universal) practice in [[Modern Orthodox]] circles. In 2013, the Israeli Orthodox rabbinical organization Beit Hillel issued a halachic ruling that women may say the Kaddish in memory of their deceased parents (in presence of a male minyan).<ref>{{cite news|author1=Ruchama Weiss|author2=Levi Brackman|title=Halachic ruling: Women may say Kaddish|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4396702,00.html|website=[[Ynetnews]]|date=25 June 2013|access-date=22 December 2015|archive-date=17 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217085749/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4396702,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism, the Mourner's Kaddish is traditionally said by women who are there also counted in the minyan.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://galeapps.galegroup.com/apps/auth?userGroupName=umuser&origURL=http%3A%2F%2Fgo.galegroup.com%2Fps%2Fretrieve.do%3FresultListType%3DRELATED_DOCUMENT%26userGroupName%3Dumuser%26inPS%3Dtrue%26contentSegment%3D9780028660974%26prodId%3DGVRL%26isBOBIndex%3Dtrue%26docId%3DGALE%257CCX2587510528&prodId=GVRL|title=Kaddish|last1=Avenary|first1=Hanoch|last2=Millen|first2=Rochelle|year=2007|editor-last=Berenbaum|editor-first=Michael|editor2-last=Skolnik|editor2-first=Fred|website=Encyclopedia Judaica|publisher=Gale Virtual Reference Library|pages=695–698|access-date=2019-02-28|edition=2|archive-date=2019-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228192346/http://galeapps.galegroup.com/apps/auth?userGroupName=umuser&origURL=http%3A%2F%2Fgo.galegroup.com%2Fps%2Fretrieve.do%3FresultListType%3DRELATED_DOCUMENT%26userGroupName%3Dumuser%26inPS%3Dtrue%26contentSegment%3D9780028660974%26prodId%3DGVRL%26isBOBIndex%3Dtrue%26docId%3DGALE%257CCX2587510528&prodId=GVRL|url-status=live}}</ref>