Kaddish - קַדִּישׁ

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May God’s great name be exalted and sanctified in the world that he created according to his will.

And May he establish his kingdom. And may his salvation blossom and his anointed be near. (Amen).

In your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime of the entire family of Israel, speedily and soon.
And let us respond: (Amen.)

(May God’s great name be blessed forever and ever!)

Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, glorified, upraised and lauded be the Name of the Holy One. Blessed be he. (Amen).

High and above all the blessings and hymns praises and consolations that are uttered in the world.
And let us respond: (Amen).

Let the name of the Lord be blessed from this time forth and for evermore.

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, life, satisfaction, help, comfort and refuge, healing, redemption, forgiveness, atonement, relief and salvation upon us and upon all his people Israel.
And let us respond: (Amen.)

May the One Who creates peace on high, bring peace upon us and upon all Israel.
And let us respond: (Amen.)

 

We often think of kadish as a prayer recited exclusively by mourners. That is true, however, only of the very last kadish in a prayer service. All other instances of kadish are used to mark the conclusion of various sections of the service. They are exclamation points that declare “The Eternal One is holy!”

One such exclamation point is Kadish d’Rabanan (“Rabbis’ Kadish”), usually recited after passages of Torah have been studied. This version praises God and asks for the welfare of our rabbis and teachers. Another is Chatzi Kadish (“Half Kadish”), an abbreviated form that usually precedes the tefila. Still another is Kadish Shalem (“Full Kadish”) that follows the tefila.

At the very end of the service, the mourners arise for the Kadish Yatom (“Mourner’s—literally, Orphan’s—Kadish”), and declare that even in the midst of their sorrow, they recognize that “the Eternal One is holy!” This is the version whose text is set forth here.

The root k d sh means holy, set apart from the everyday. Kaddish is an Aramaic (Aramaic Language - Wikipedia) word that uses the root k d sh. Another Aramaic instance is kiddushin “wedding ceremony.” Hebrew instances include kiddush, the announcement of the arrival of a holy Sabbath or Festival, usually chanted over a cup of wine; and kedusha, the prayer that quotes the prophecy of Isaiah: “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh--Holy, holy, holy is the Eternal One!” (Isaiah 6:3). The kedusha was later incorporated into the Catholic mass in its Latin translation, “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus.”

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