Saying Kaddish for Oct. 7 Victims Ends This Week

Some 1,200 families will soon finish saying the Mourner’s Kaddish for their loved ones who were murdered on Simchat Torah, October 7. The custom is to recite the Kaddish prayer three times daily for eleven months, and that period ends this week.

What is the meaning of the words of this prayer, which was recited over and over again this year?

The Kaddish opens with the mourners expressing their desire to glorify and sanctify the magnificent Name of God: “Yitgadal V’Yitkadash Shmei Rabbah!” The words that follow describe a perfect world that has achieved its tikkun (rectification), and beseeching that God’s presence in the world be further magnified: “Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded…”

Why are these words recited by the mourner after his loved one has passed away?

Since every human being is created in God's image, when a person passes away, God’s revelation in the world is diminished somewhat. Something holy is now missing from our world. Therefore, we request that the divine light be increased to fill that void.

And this year, that void is almost unfathomable.

As this period of Kaddish ends, one bereaved family asked me to thank the public on their behalf. Those who diligently recited Kaddish three times daily were assisted by many volunteers in Israel and throughout the world who agreed to pause in the middle of their day to join a minyan. Kaddish is never recited alone; it requires the presence of at least nine other men. Reciting Kaddish in a minyan sends the mourners a powerful and comforting message: You are not alone.

May we soon see the fulfillment of the closing words of the Kaddish recited by so many brokenhearted people: “He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel, and say: Amen.”

Featured image: by Irent Shavit/Instagram. A photo of Irena and her boyrfriend Netta Epstien, who was killed when he threw himself of a grenade to save her.