Kaddish asks people to take an incredible step at a very tenuous time in life, and from time immemorial, Jews have been taking that step.
When someone loses a person they love, it’s natural to turn inwards and to recede from life. Pain and loss pull us deep into ourselves. Death and despair go hand in hand. Judaism understands the profound feeling of loneliness that death leaves, and the need for mourners to quietly retreat into a personal, inner space alone. Judaism denies not an ounce of the mourners suffering, yet it insists that suffering not become consuming. Judaism honors the need to step away from normal interactions with people, friends and community, though it gently reminds one that his place is with people with family, friends and community.
You may feel that you can't go on but you need to know; you are resilient, you will again be able to embrace life, you will be able to walk with the living, and you will even be able to inspire them.
When a mourner stands to recite the Kaddish, he is standing on ground that is at once precarious and secure. He stands as a person whose world has been shaken, and yet he stands and affirms that ultimately there is a place for him within the world. And when he stands there, he proclaims that no matter what, I and we must always acknowledge that the reality of God in life transcends, and even gives meaning, to the pain of loss in life.
In the reciting of Kaddish, the Jew has something to say to those around him. Similarly, the Kaddish has something to say to the one who is reciting it. You may feel that you can’t go on but you need to know; you are resilient, you will again be able to embrace life, you will be able to walk with the living, and you will even be able to inspire them. |
