Reading and Writing the Mourner’s Kaddish

 

It has been noted that the Mourner’s Kaddish is not explicitly about death or loss; rather, on the surface, it appears to be a prayer of praise and exaltation. But what is the relationship between grief and praise? Who is the Mourner’s Kaddish for? What have been our own experiences of this prayer? Join us for a special Elul program where we get inside the structure of one of Judaism’s most powerful and enigmatic prayers, examining some of the context and history of this liturgy and then mapping and writing our own versions.

 

 

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the current Rosh Yeshiva for the Center for Contemporary Mussar and for the last decade, directed the Mussar program at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon. Joshua also teaches Jewish Meditation and co-leads silent retreats. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Pacific University and his poetry has appeared in the Missouri Review, the Southern Review, B O D Y, and elsewhere.