Meta-Kaddish

Meta-Kaddish Magnified in force and increased in sensitivity be the Self-Knowledge of the Universe. (So may that be.) In this functional world which was initiated with consciousness. May it be guided towards a better future by an evolving humane-divine interaction in our lifetimes in our daily experience and in the lifetimes of our corporate assembly of those who work towards societal integrity with the One soon, in a close-to-now time and let us say Amayn. Let the dynamic character of Universe's design be clearly revealed in the micro-environments within the macro-environments within the larger universe. May (this dynamic intelligence) come ever closer to our sensations and be acknowledged in fullness. May its elegance surface, its mission be highly valued,, and its presence yearned for. May it (the product of this realization) shine with an inner glow, intensify in clarity, receive the support which encourages the evolution of the self-knowledge of the sacred; and may it come to penetrate our lives in real terms. (This can all happen because) the object of this prayer is transcendent of all definition of existent boundaries and creative conjecture all proclamation and comforting self-congratulation that can be put forward in a world of verbal communication, and let us to that say Amayn. (As these goals become closer to becoming acheived) may a great upsurge of harmony reflecting the unitary depths of the space-time continuum flow as increased vitality to us and to those who work towards societal integrity with the One and let us affirm that by answering Amayn. May that (increase in conciousness) which unites the extremes of the cosmos manifest to harmonize us with our future evolution and the evolution of those who work towards societal integrity with the One and all those who are alive on the planet And let us begin by saying Amayn. Yit'gadalv'yitkadash Magnified in force and increased in sensitivity be sh'mayrabah the Self-Knowledge of the Universe. 1) There are different types of Kaddish and some Kaddish recitals may be more powe1ful than others. Some (types or recitals of) Kaddish are for the benefit of the departed person, whereas some (types or recitals of)Kaddish serve the persons who are saying them. Sometimes a Kaddish acts as a ladder or bridge for the davvener and opens a channel for the listener. 2) The Kaddish is repeated several times at each important junction between parts of the prayers. We recite the Kaddish both as we open towards the Amidah and as we close, increasing the guardian on our boundaries after the Amidah. Kaddish thus resides in the central pillar or trunk of the Sefirotic Tree of Life where one can climb to the outermost branches or descend to the roots. This idea is expres~ed in the acronym resulting from the first four words. 3) The first letter of the first four words, (the acronym,) spells out Yosher-integrity, straightforwardness, fairness. Whatever is the current function of the Kaddish, the acronym of Yosher sends an embedded message of straightness and directness into the prayer that the effect of the prayer as a whole be one of greatest efficiency to increase our sacred function. 4) The first phrase of the_Kaddish is based on a verse from Zekhariah 14:9, "I will become magnified and I will be seen as holy and I will be known to the eyes of many nations." This verse suggests a future where the Divine sense of wholeness is better integrated into the thrust of civilization than it is at present. 5) Yit'gadal, magnified, may be understood as a quantitative term, while Yit'kadash, sanctified ,suggests a qualitative improvement. This change will be activated not just in the common concept of God as exterior fiddler with the worlds but in changing the potential for mystical experience, the availability to subjectively know the "Great" Name," to update the vehicle of unitary experience. 6) Some say the "Great Name" refers to the first two letters, the Yod Hay or the "Yah" of the four lettered name. An increase in this information channel coincides with a decrease in a conventional, impoverished, crystallized perception of the universe's potential. 7) The reason why I have translated sh'may rabah as the self-knowledge of the universe (which needs to become magnified) is sourced in Hassidic writings which explore what's in a name, the name of God. In Samakh Tsamakh, (from the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch), a "name" is described as being a part of the soul which becomes necessary only after another person appears on the scene. When we are alone, we don't need a name and don't refer to ourselves by name. Thus "name" involves a sense of self described by the boundaries which come together in the presence of another 8) Often modern people are repulsed by the narcissistic, grandiosity of the praises found in the Siddur. Halleluyah this and Halleluyah that. If God is so great and all-knowing, they say, why does God need us to humble ourselves with all these sycophantic praises and hyperbolic flattery? 9) Sometimes we explain that the exaggerated praises are for ourselves, not for God who does not have an inferiority complex and is not in need of constant reinforcement. Sometimes we say that the feeling sense in Hebrew is not so subservient and self-effacing as it sounds in English. 10) But in Hassidut, we have a description of God who has been so isolated so long that God is beyond selfidentifying, does not know herself, and is unaware of her beauty and creativity. Our job as conscious (though puny) self-aware beings is to serve to wake up the "Anochi" the I am, of the universe. God may be Omniscient and Omnipotent but may not know that She/He is all-knowing and powerful. This davvenen as a form of'therapy to a non-aware God' is part of natural theology and natural hassidic thinking. 11) In this understanding, the Halleluyahs are recited to "wake up" to kindle (from b'hilo nayro al rosho -lighting up the candle.) We are lighting God up and healing God's Self-sense with our ten hundred Halleluyahs and the daily hundred blessings we say. Our mission is to awaken the God in everything we come across. The intelligence and potential is there. We must just act as lamplighters. 12) Perhaps the same can be said of the souls we often think of for whom we are saying the Kaddish. They are departed, and that is a shock to be without a body and without a name, like losing your wallet, keys, the whereabouts of your car and your identity all at the same time. In that amnesia, they share an experience with God (Menasheh is the God who forgets). And so, as God awakes, the souls also come out of their shock, joining towards the great day when, soon, in our time, the world will fill with knowledge of (its) Godliness as full as the sea is full of water. Amayn (So may that be.) 13) Amayn is of the same Gematria (numerical equivalent) as the Yod Hay Vav Hay plus(+) Adonai. This suggests that Yod Hay Vav Hay is not enough. We need also the "mastery" suggested by Adonai as an important tool towards becoming a channel for holiness. One who wants to become a vehicle for the Divine must do more than to recognize the Divine Eternity (Yod Hay Vav Hay), but must also recognize the potency, potential and mastery (adonut) in the works and intelligence of the universe. 14) Amayn is acronym of El Melekh Ne 'eman. El is the first filter (of Hesed) allowing Divine animation and Melekh, the container of the kingdom, is the last filter-clothing on Divine action. By saying Amayn we pray that the original source of Divine energy be not obscured as it traces its way to our own awareness. 15) Saying Amayn seals the psychic energy /information of what was said just before it (i.e., a blessing, the Kaddish, etc.) in a fixed fo1m and directs it towards where it needs to do its work. b'al'mah In this functional world di v'rah khi'r'utay which was initiated with consciousness. 16) R'utay means pleasure, will, good will and ambition. Here it suggests that the world had its beginning in consciousness rather than being a product of sub- or pre-conscious forces. V'yam'likh May it be guided towards a better future mal'khutay by evolving humane-divine interaction 17) This translation of malkhutay is based on the Hassidic understanding of malkhut. There can be no king wthout interaction with a people. Ayn melekh bli am. One can't be king over a million ants. Kingship indicates a relationship, an interaction and a dialectical development. B'khai-yay-khon in our lifetimes u-v'yomay-khon and in our daily experience U-v'khai-yay d'kholbayt and in the lifetimes of our corporate assembly of Yisrael those who work towards societal integrity with the One (Yisroel = Yosher El, see note on first line of the Kaddish), Ba-a-gala soon u-viz'mankariv and in a close-to-now time V'imruamen. and let us say Amayn. Y'haysh'mayrabah Let the dynamic character of the Universe's design m'varakh be clearly revealed 18) Brakha is associated with berekh, knees, suggesting kneeling, coming downwards, revealing itself to those who are close to the earth. L'olamu-l'al'mayal'mai-yah in the micro-environments within the macro-environments within the larger universe. 19) For variety sake I chose to use a spatial rather than a hyperbolic temporal explanation such as forever and ever. Yit'barakh May (this dynamic intelligence) come ever closer to our sensations 20) The idea of Brakha as "coming ever closer to a level of conscious awareness" I find similar to the idea of evolution in terms of developing more practical responses to actual life demands. 21) According to the Talmud (Megillah), first chapter), there are ten praise-words in the Kaddish- •yitgadal, •yitkadash, •yitbarakh, •yishtabakh, •yitpa-ar, •yit'romam •yitnasay •yit'hadar, •yitalay •yithalalal. This points out a subtext of working through each of the ten levels of the Sefirot by saying the Kaddish. v'yish'tabakh and be acknowledged in fullness 22) Shiv' kha means "commending and speaking with pride of another" as well as the over-used "praise." Shevakh means profit as well. This is the 'profit' of creation - that God gets to be known and acknowledged and comes to evolve to know God's own self, God's full name which is presently incomplete. (See commentaries on V'yit'pa-ar May its elegance surface, v'yit'romam its mission be highly valued, 23) Ram means high and exalted such as a high mountain. In translating it is often difficult to avoid dualistic hierarchical ideas- such as "rising up to the top" being superior than "going down to the bottom". I chose the idea here of increasing in value as a substitute for the spatial metaphor of being elevated in height. v'yit'nasay its presence yearned for. 24) Nasa means to be lifted up or carried. N'siat panim means to have your face be lifted up, to be respected,. N'siat nefesh, to have one's soul lifted, is to yearn towards something. V'yit'hadar May (the product of) this realization) bring forth an inner glow, 25) Assuming that Hadar relates to Hod, I ventured that we are now talking about the product rather than the process of the changes in Divine consciousness suggested by the Kaddish. v'yit'aleh intensify in clarity, 26) Yit' aleh is associated with the word Aliyah, to rise. I chose "intensify in clarity" as euphemism for rising up based on the idea that when one rises up, such as rising higher up on a mountain, one can see farther, as well as the air becoming clearer. v'yit'hallal and receive the support which encourages the evolution 27) V'yit'hallal form the word Halleluyah, usually translated as praise God. In Hassidut, Hallel comes from the verse B'hilo nero (Job 29, 3) lighting up a candle and suggests that when we say Halleluyah we are lighting up, kindling and exciting the Divine flow, thus encouraging its evolution and interactions with us. Sh'mayd'kud'shah of the self-knowledge of the sacred; brikhhu. may it come to penetrate our lives in real terms. 28) Once having established that brakha is to kneel and come to a more perceptible level, we find more and more ways to focus our davvenen on real felt experience. L'aylah (This can all happen because) the object of this prayer is transcendent minkolbir'khatah of all definition of existent boundaries, v'shiratah creative conjecture, 29) Shira, song is a more poetic form than a brakha which I am seeing as a grounding, applying activity. ~rTTT:J\Ur-I Tush'b'khatah all proclamation (see above on Yishtabakh) TTJ1 v'ne-khe-matah and comforting self-congratulation 30) The Etz Yosefbrings down from the L'vush that the Holy One is mourning over our (mutual) exile and is in need of comfort. This idea fits the general thesis here that the Kaddish is therapy for an evolving God. Da-amiran b'al'mah that can be put forward in a world of verbal communication, v'imruamen. and let us to that say Amayn. N:Ji Y'haysh'lamahrabah (As these goals become closer to becoming acheived) May a great upsurge of harmony minsh'mai-yah reflecting the unitary depths of the space-time continuum V'khai-yimalaynu flow as increased vitality to us V'al kol Yisrael, and to those who work towards societal integrity with the One V'imruamen. and let us affirm that by answering Amayn. l'niin:L c:ii1, \ZJii\Ui~ Osehshalombim'romav. May that (increase in conciousness) which unites the extremes of the cosmos 31) The Etz Yosef brings down that this refers to angels of fire and water who co-exist without quelling or quenching each other. Peace is left for the end assuming that the attainment of a lasting peace is worth all the work that goes into achieving it. 32) An interesting movement suggestion is found in classical texts: when saying Oseh shalom bim'romav, one is to tum one's face to the left which is the right of the Shekhina, when saying hu ya'aseh shalom alaynu to tum one's face to the left and then bow forwards before ending up alaynu and so on. This assumes that the Shekhina is right in front of us when we davven. TTW~~ Rlii Huya-a-sehshalomalaynu manifest to harmonize our own evolution V'al kol Yisrael and the evolution of those who work towards societal integrity with the One V'al kol yosh'vaytayvel and all those who are alive on the planet 33) This is an innovative phrase inserted into the original. To investigate further the origin of this nascent planetary consciousness within ancient Judaism see Isaiah 18,3; Psalms 33,8. 24,1. 98,7; Nahum 4,12; and Lamentations 4,12. V'imruamen. And let us begin by saying Amayn.