The man told Akiva that the only way to help was if his son were to say. God answered his prayer and Akiva taught him Torah. The man then came to Akiva in a dream, blessed Akiva, and told him that his soul had been saved from the punishment of Gehenna. From this midrash comes the notion that each time you say Kaddish, you raise the soul of your parent toward a higher level. No matter how righteous a life he or she led, their soul is in danger of being lost to Gehenna. The power of this midrash helps explain why some take the obligation to say Kaddish so seriously that missing a single Kaddish becomes unthinkable.
Of course, it is easy to dismiss the midrash as mere superstition. But there is another way of understanding the midrash. The bond between child and parent continues even after death. Even more so, the midrash suggests that the relationship remains, in some respect, a two-way street.
The relationship is eternal, transcending life. Beyond these metaphysics, saying Kaddish fulfills more concrete, yet equally important, functions. Saying Kaddish regularly prevents you from forgetting what happened. We are blessed, or perhaps cursed, with the ability to heal from traumatic events.
And with healing comes the possibility of forgetting. Kaddish is a public affirmation that you are a mourner.
My parent died. It happened. I cannot forget. Kaddish gives the mourner a concrete task to regularly perform. Not too many words, about The words, even though they are in Aramaic, are not that difficult to pronounce. They have rhythm that is easy to pick up. No one is proposing to change the words of this prayer. Kaddish may not take away the pain of loss, but it does peg your mourning to a specific, definable, easy-to-accomplish task. Saying Kaddish creates a routine for the mourner.
You go to shul in the morning and the afternoon. Your life revolves around the obligation to say Kaddish. There is something conforming about knowing that you have to be at a certain place at a certain time every day. Dealing with the death of a parent is overwhelming; going to shul every day is much easier to deal with. In the meantime, get yourself to shul and say Kaddish.
You are Not the Only Mourner. The mourner is not alone, but part of a community of mourners, not one voluntarily joined, but joined nonetheless.
We formed powerful, often unspoken, bonds born of common grief. These connections do not replace the severed link with our parent, but the obligation of Kaddish does help create social outlets that offer a measure of companionship and solace. Kaddish connects you to the community at a time when your natural focus is your own grief. Being in pain is selfish by nature. It is you—not others—who has suffered a loss.
Kaddish provides a corrective message: In your time of grief, you must be with others. Kaddish puts your own pain in a broader context.
You have to leave your house, go to shul and be with others. Indeed, not only are you not alone, but you are also the center of attention in shul. Of course, none of us knows what happens to the departed soul, but there is the fear that they will be punished, perhaps harshly, for misdeeds they committed while still a part of this world. However, if we can do good things in this world, their soul can be elevated and leave behind whatever punishments they might be otherwise sentenced to and instead ascend to higher levels in the world to come.
I found a man gathering wood. I spoke to him but he did not reply. When I was alive, I and my friend had a shop. When we came here, we were sentenced to be burnt. When I gather wood they burn my friend, and when he gathers wood they burn me.
Please, watch out for him from the time he is born until he is 5 years old. In a later telling of this story, some of the details are changed. One of them is that saying the Kaddish takes the place of saying Barchu. Another is that ultimately, the parent can ascend to the heights of the World to Come and sit with all the righteous people there. We learn several things from the story. One is that a child has the power by his actions to elevate the soul of a parent in the afterlife.
We also understand that the primary concern for the child is that he learn Torah first. But when he is able to say Barchu or Kaddish, in a minyan presumably, then his learning will be consummated and the parent will be raised from his punishment. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library. Category » Prayers. Prayers and Blessings. Daily Prayers. Early Morning Prayers. Modeh Ani. Baruch Sh'Amar. Bedtime Blessings.
Mourning Rituals. Hazkarat Neshamot. Blessing over Food. Blessings Before Eating. Blessing over Bread Ha'Motzi. Grace After Meals. Birkat HaMazon. Shabbat Prayers. Shabbat Evening Rituals. Hymn for Shabbat Day. Nishmat Kol Hai. Aliyah Blessings. Anna Be-cho'ah. Avinu She-Ba-Shamayim. Blessing for Beauty. Blessing for Affixing a Mezuza. Blessing for Putting on a Tallit. Blessing for the Seas and Oceans. Blessing of Children.
Blessing for Springtime. Blessing of Gomel. Blessing of the Moon. Blessing of the Sun. Prayer of a Physician. Prayer for the Government. Prayer for the State of Israel.
0コメント