I listen to the Zoom diaspora chanting kaddishThe Aramaic memorial prayer for the dead. Mourners recite this prayer at every service, every day, in the presence of a minyan (prayer quorum) over the course of a year (for a parent) or thirty days (for a sibling or offspring). The prayer actually makes no mention of the dead, but rather prays for the sanctification and magnification of God's name..
This kaddish, sung over the web,
Dissolves into a babbling cacophony.
Yitgadal – Magnified!
Yitkadash – Made holy!
And then all fades into a jumble of crooked syllables,
Merged together in the glorification
Of the ever-present divine.
Here and there a word punctuates
The chaotic rush:
A staccato of “Amens!”
And piercing “B’rikh hu’s!”
After wading
Through the thicket of Aramaic,
My mind relaxes into
The final Hebrew phrases,
Landing securely in the blessing of
“Oseh shalom” – Bestower of peace.
The kaddish’s peace is a growing, ever-expanding gift,
First showered on “AleinuPrayer proclaiming God’s kingship, said near the conclusion of the prayer service.” – each of us on the call,
And then reaching out to “Kol Yisrael” – the entire congregation of IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel.
Before finally soaring to touch
“Yoshvei Tevel” – All.
All of us who dwell in these narrow confines –
May we all know peace.
