What the Hell – Origins of the Mourner’s Kaddish – Handout
Babylonian Talmud – Sotah 49a
Rabban Shimon b. Gamaliel says: R. Yehoshua testified that from the day the temple was destroyed, there is no day without a curse…
How, in that case, can the world endure? — Through the doxology (akdushah) recited after the Scriptural reading, and ‘May His great Name be blessed’ after studying Agada…
Tanna Devei Eliyahu
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai said, “One time I was going along the way and I came across a man who was gathering wood. I spoke to him, but he did not respond. Afterwards the man came to me and said ‘Rabbi, I am dead, not alive’.
I asked him, ‘If you are dead, what do you need this wood for?’
He replied, ‘Rabbi, listen to what I am about to tell you. While I was alive my companion and I used to engage in sin in my mansion. When we came to this world, we were sentenced to burning. While I gather the wood to burn my friend, and while he gathers wood, they burn me.’
I inquired, ‘How long is this sentence to last?’
The dead man answered, ‘When I came to this world I left behind a pregnant wife. I know she is expecting a boy. I beg of you, keep an eye on him from the moment he is born until he is five years old. Then bring him to school, for the moment he responds “Let us bless God, Who is blessed, I will be released from judgement in Gehinnom.’”
Babylonian Talmud – Rosh Hashanah 16b-17a
It has been taught: Beit Shammai says, there will be three groups at the Day of Judgment — one of completely righteous, one of completely wicked, and one of intermediate. The completely righteous are written and sealed immediately for everlasting life; the completely wicked are written and sealed immediately for Gehinnom, as it says: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence” (Daniel 12:2). The intermediate will go down to Gehinnom and scream and rise again, as it says, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name and I will answer them (Zechariah 13:9)”.
Wrongdoers of Israel who sin with their body and wrongdoers of the Gentiles who sin with their body go down to Gehinnom and are punished there for twelve months. After twelve months their body is consumed and their soul is burnt and the wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous as it says, ”And you shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 3:21).
But as for the minim and the masorim and the apikorism, who denied the Torah and denied the resurrection of the dead, and those who abandoned the ways of the community, and those who ‘spread their terror in the land of the living’, and who sinned and made the masses sin, like Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his fellows — these will go down to Gehinnom and be punished there for all generations…
R. Isaac b. Avin said: And their faces shall be black like the sides of a pot. Rava added: Among them are the handsomest of the handsome of the inhabitants of Mechoza, and they shall be called ‘sons of Gehinnom’.
What is meant by ‘wrongdoers of Israel who sin with their body’? — Rav said: This refers to the cranium which does not put on tefillin.
Who are ‘the wrongdoers of the Gentiles who sin with their body’? — Rav said: This refers to sexual sin.
‘Who have spread their terror in the land of the living’? — R. Hisda said: This is a parnas who makes himself unduly feared by the community for purposes other than religious. Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Any parnas who makes himself unduly feared by the community for purposes other than religious will never have a scholar for a son, as it says, Therefore if men fear him, he shall not see [among his sons] any wise of heart.
Midrash, Mahzor Vitry
It once happened that Rabbi Akiva was passing through a cemetery, and he came upon a man who was naked, and black as coal, and carrying a great burden of thorns on his head. Rabbi Akiva thought that the man, who was running like a horse, was alive. Rabbi Akiva commanded and stopped him, and said to him: “Why does that man do this difficult work? If you are a servant and your master treats you this way, I will redeem you from his hands; if you are poor and people are treating you unfairly, I will enrich you.”
[The man] said to him: “Please do not delay me, lest those appointed over me become angry.”
[Rabbi Akiva] said to him: “What is this, and what are your deeds?”
[The man] said to him: “That man is dead, and every day I am sent out to chop trees.”
[Rabbi Akiva] said to him: “My son, what was your profession in the world from which you came?”
[The man] said to him: “I was a tax collector, and I would favor the rich and kill the poor.”
[Rabbi Akiva] said to him: “Haven’t you heard anything from those appointed to punish you about how you might be relieved?”
[The man] said: “Please do not delay me, lest those in charge of my punishments become angry, for there is no relief for that man. But I did hear from [those appointed over me] one impossible thing: ‘If only this poor man had a son who would stand in front of the congregation and say “Let us bless God, Who is blessed” (barkhu ’et ’adonai ha-mevorakh), and have them answer “May His great name be blessed,” (yehei shmeh rabbah mevorakh) he would be immediately released from his punishments.’ But that man never had a son—he left his wife pregnant, and I do not know if she had a boy. And even if she did have a boy, who would teach him Torah? That man does not have a friend in the world.”
Immediately, Rabbi Akiva decided to go and see if he had a son, in order to teach him Torah and stand him in front of the congregation. He said to [the man]: “What is your name?”
[The man] said to him: “Akiva.”
“And your wife’s name?”
[The man] said to him: “Shoshniba.
“And the name of your city?”
“Laodicea.”
Immediately Rabbi Akiva was extremely saddened, and went to ask after [the man]. When he arrived in that city, he asked after him. [The townspeople] said to him: “May the bones of that man be ground up.”
[Rabbi Akiva] asked after [the man’s] wife. They said to him: “May her memory be erased from the world.”
He asked about her son. They said to him: “He is uncircumcised—we did not even engage in the commandment of circumcision for him.”
Immediately, Rabbi Akiva circumcised him, and put a book in front of him.
But he would not accept Torah study, until Rabbi Akiva fasted for forty days.
A heavenly voice said to him: “For this you are fasting?”
[Rabbi Akiva] said: “Master of the Universe! Is it not for You that I am preparing him?”
Immediately the Holy One opened [the child’s] heart, and [Rabbi Akiva] taught him Torah, and the Shema, and grace after meals. He then stood [the child] in front of the congregation, and [the child] recited “Let us bless,” and the congregation answered after him “Blessed be the blessed God.” In that hour, they freed [the man] from his punishment. Immediately, the man came to Rabbi Akiva in a dream, and said “May it be the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, that you rest in the Garden of Eden, for you have saved me from the judgment of Gehenna.” Rabbi Akiva exclaimed: “God, your name endures forever; your renown, God, through all generations” [Ps. 135:13].
Therefore, it is customary to appoint a person who does not have a father or mother to lead the services at the conclusion of the Sabbath, in order to say Barkhu or Kaddish.
Kaddish
Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.
May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.