Qaddish
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QADDISH Heb. qaddish, or “consecration,” is the name of the most illustrious doxology in Jewish liturgy. Used since the time of the Second Temple, its majestic refrain, “May his great Name be blessed for ever and for all time,” is recited by the entire congregation after a haggadic exposition (Bera. 3a), before and after prayer or reading the Torah. The present version is still largely in Aramaic. Echoes of the qaddish are frequent in Jewish poetry. A. M. Klein invokes it in his “Signs and Wonders” and “Sword of the Righteous,” as well as his “Psalm XXXIV: A Psalm of Abraham, to be Written Down and Left on the Tomb of Rashi,” in the latter of which cases the reference is to a funeral qaddish. Another notable modern poem is the “Kaddish” by Allen Ginsberg.
See also prayer.
Bibliography. Scherman, N. Kaddish (1983).
Jeffrey, D. L. (1992). A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
