Meta-Kaddish

1. 1) There are different types of Kaddish and some Kaddish recitals may be more powerful 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. 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 expressed in the acronym resulting from the first four words.
3. 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. 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.

13. 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. 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. 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 form and directs it towards where it needs to do its work.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 18) Brakha is associated with berekh, knees, suggesting kneeling, coming downwards, revealing itself to those who are close to the earth.

19. 19) For variety sake I chose to use a spatial rather than a hyperbolic temporal explanation such as forever and ever.

See also p. 138.1, L'olam U-l'olmay Olmayah

20. 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. 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.

22. 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 Exodus 17:16.)

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 29) Shira, song is a more poetic form than a brakha which I am seeing as a grounding, applying activity.

30. 30) The Etz Yosef brings 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.

31. 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. 32) An interesting movement suggestion is found in classical texts: when saying Oseh shalom bim'romav, one is to turn one's face to the left which is the right of the Shekhina, when saying hu ya'aseh shalom alaynu to turn 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.

33. 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.