Tefillah Meanings: Qaddish
I was going to post something about “the fours” and about how I relate to numbers as symbols altogether. But as I am still in sheloshim, here’s something more on topic לזכר נשמת יהושע אשר בן מיכה שמואל.
There are a few places where my own nusach for Qaddish is based on less popular variants of Nusach Ashkenaz. I want to share them and the reasons for these choices, as well as one or two other thoughts. As is usual for “Tefillah Meanings”, the idea isn’t to get you to agree; it’s to get you thinking about the topic and reaching your own answers.
If Chazal are the Creator’s secretaries setting the agenda for the meeting, the items in the agenda should be addressed based on what you need to actually say.
1- The tefillah is in Aramaic, not Hebrew. The gemara says this is because mal’achim understand every language but Aramaic? Why would that be? They speak Hebrew, and what language is closer to Hebrew than Aramaic is, aside from Hebrew itself?
I think that’s just it. Faces that look like art, such as cartoon or anime style, don’t bother us. But a robot made with an almost realistic face seems erie. This is what they call the “uncanny valley”. Aramaic is in Hebrew’s uncanny valley. Unlike a language that doesn’t model the supernatural and its relationship to the physical world at all, Aramaic does an almost accurate job at it. Which is worse than not trying.
2- Yisgadeil veYisqadeish: with tzeireis (as in the vowel in “mate”). The usual, patach, “Yisgadal veYisqadash” is ambiguously Aramaic or Hebrew. For an example in Hebrew, think “Parashas VaEschanan”, doesn’t use the word “VaEschanein”.
The Gra says that even though Qaddish is in Aramaic, these two words are in Hebrew. The Mishneh Berurah says that this means saying them with a tzeirei. (He overstates the case, saying “yisgadal” is Aramaic, when in reality it’s both.)
The Gra’s reason is that we are invoking the pasuq in Yechezqeil (38:23) where Hashem describes the ultimate future using these words:
וְהִתְגַּדִּלְתִּי֙ וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתִּ֔י וְנ֣וֹדַעְתִּ֔י לְעֵינֵ֖י גּוֹיִ֣ם רַבִּ֑ים וְיָדְע֖וּ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֥י ה’׃
I will make Myself [more obviously] Great and make Myself [more obviously] Holy, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am Hashem.
I like the balance between particularism and universalism in Judaism. That we are the Chosen People, but chosen for the job of teaching everyone to “make a single confederation to do Your Will wholeheartedly.” So, reference to the pasuq it is.
3- Kir’usei, not khir’usei. Another Gra-ism. The difference is the addition of a comma. If this is the same phrase as “vera”, then the khaf doesn’t have a dot. The dot implies it isn’t.
So, with a khaf the opening of Qaddish would mean:
May you make Yourself [more obviously] Great and make Yourself [more obviously] Holy
in this world that You created according to Your Will.
The “according to Your Will” would how the world was created. However, the word actually applies to “Yisgadeil veYisqadeish”:
May you make Yourself [more obviously] Great and make Yourself [more obviously] Holy
in this world that You created
as per to Your Will [that your Greatness and Holiness be manifest here].
This latter understanding matches what we say in Hebrew in “Al haKol” before taking out the Torah:
עַל הַכֹּל. יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאֵר וְיִתְרוֹמַם וְיִתְנַשֵּׂא
שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל מֶֽלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּ֒לָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא.
בָּעוֹלָמוֹת שֶׁבָּרָא – הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.
.כִּרְצוֹנוֹ וְכִרְצוֹן יְרֵאָיו וְכִרְצוֹן כָּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Over all, may it made great, holy, praised, exalted and extolled
the Name of the King over kings of kings [i.e. emperors]. the Holy One, blessed be He.
In the worlds which He created — this world and the World to Come
as per His Will, and the desire of those who feel Yir’ah for Him and the desire of the whole House of Israel.
Hashem didn’t create the universe according to the will of the Jews. We didn’t exist to have a will yet! Rather, it’s the elevation of His Name. Or as I called it when translating Qaddish, making His Greatness and Holiness manifest. As “name” implies “as seen from the outside”, not in essence.
(Back to #1 for a second, not here “Yisgadal veYidqadash”, with the patach, even though this is in Hebrew. A point against the Mishnah Berurah’s understanding of what the Gra meant. And thus against my nusach.)
3- Shemei Rabba — His Great Name. The Arukh haShulchan says that many understand this to mean the full Y-HV-H name, the one Chazal say will only be used after the destruction of Amaleiq and the end of evil. As opposed to the shortened two letter version, Y-H, found in Shemos 17:16, “וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כִּֽי־יָד֙ עַל־כֵּ֣ס יָ֔-הּ מִלְחָמָ֥ה לַהֹ’ בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק מִדֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר׃ – and [Moshe] said, ‘For a ‘Hand’ is upon the throne of Y-H, Y-HV-H’s war with Amaleiq from generation to generation.” (See Medrash Tanchuma, Ki Seitzei 11.)
In Qaddish we are asking for the elevation of Hashem from how He appears now and in this world, where there are places where we cannot see His Will, the events we experience as evil. And we wish for the rapid revelation of how He will be perceived in the World to Come, where Divine Good can be seen in everything. From the world of Y-H, where there is an Amaleiq, to that of the Great Name, where all is an obvious expression of Good.
(Dor vaDor being an expression of time across history, and more limited than LeOlam’s eternity will G-d Willing someday be mentioned when we get to “Malkhusekha” in Ashrei.
4- In a rare move for pure Litvisher Nusach, I add “Yisbarakh” as the end of the sentence “Yehei Shemeih”. This is another thing from the Arukh haShulchan.
There are only supposed to be seven verbs in the next line. In practice we have eight. This is such a big issue, the Gra takes out “VeYisalei”.
The Arukh haShulchan suggests a simpler solution: “Yisbarakh” is part of the previous sentence, it’s not one of the seven.
So, in regular Ashkenaz, this section of Qaddish reads:
יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְ֒מֵי עָלְ֒מַיָּא
May His great Name be blessed forever and for all eternity.
יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרוֹמַם וְיִתְנַשֵּׂא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל …
(1) Blessed and (2) praised, (3) glorified, and (4) exalted and (5) uplifted, (6) honored and (7) elevated and (8) extolled …
יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְ֒מֵי עָלְ֒מַיָּא
May His great Name be blessed forever and for all eternity.
יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרוֹמַם וְיִתְנַשֵּׂא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל …
(1) Blessed and (2) praised, (3) glorified, and (4) exalted and (5) uplifted, (6) honored and (7) elevated and (8) extolled …
Whereas the Arukh haShulchan is suggesting following the version of Nusach “Sfard” which says:
יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְ֒מֵי עָלְ֒מַיָּא יִתְבָּרַךְ
May His great Name be blessed, as forever and for all eternity it is [inherently] blessèd.
וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרוֹמַם וְיִתְנַשֵּׂא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל …
And may it be (1) praised, (2) glorified, and (3) exalted and (4) uplifted, (5) honored and (6) elevated and (7) extolled …
Problem solved. But it also forces dividing “Yehei Shemeih”, as with two verbs, we need to put “מְבָרַךְ” and “יִתְבָּרַךְ” into different clauses. See the differences in the above translations.
My two pence: When talking about what’s holy in this world, we use the number 7. (Think Shabbos.) Eight is for beyond this world. (Think beris milah or Shemini Atzeres. See the Collected Writings of R’ SR Hirsch, vol III, “Tzitzis”.) If we are asking Hashem as currently perceived as elevated, seven verbs would be more appropriate. In contrast, when talking about the miraculous in YaAleh veYavo, the opening words are the first two of eight verbs.
5- The Gra makes a point of there not being a comma after “Qudsha”. We are not saying, “שְׁמֵהּ דְקוּדְשָׁא, בְּרִיךְ הוּא – the name of the Holy One, Who isblessèd”. In Ashkanaz it may sound like that, since everyone responds “בְּרִיךְ הוּא”. But really it’s “שְׁמֵהּ דְ־’קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא’ – the name of Qudsha Berikh Hu” that should be so elevated.
The Gra’s reasoning involves Qabbalistic ideas which are above my pay grade. Outline: Hashem as He runs this world is perceived as the partzuf Ze’ir Anpin (literally: “The Small Face”). “Partzufim” are models and metaphors describing various perceptions of the Divine within the limits of the human intellect. It is what we were referring to in #3 when talking about this world where all we can see of Hashem is Y-H.
In the World to Come, we can perceive Shemeih Rabba, the full Y-HV-H. We no longer see gaps in His rule, and evil and tragedy disappear. This is what Qabbalists refer to as the partzuf of “Erekh Anpin” (“The Long Face”).
“Qudshah Berikh Hu” is another name for Zeir Anpin. So we are asking for the elevation of Hashem as seen in this world, where there is evil, to being able to see Him as only providing total good, as per Erekh Anpin and the Great Name.
6- In reality the full Qaddish is that which we tend to call “Chatzi Qaddish” (the alleged “Half Qaddish”), and all the other variants are later insertions written later, by the Geonim of Bavel.
Qadish Malei, the so-called “Full Qaddish” is Qaddish with an insertion asking Hashem to accept our Tefillos. It is said after we performed all three mitzvos of davening: (1) Shema, (2) Tefillah — i.e. Shemoneh Esrei or other Amidah, and (3) Tachanunim. (As per “tzelosehon”, referring to Tefillah, and “uva’usehon” – Tanachanim. See my earlier post, “Tefillah Meanings: My G-d!”)
Similarly Qaddish deRabbanan having an insert asking for blessings for Israel and our Rabbis, said after learning.
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