Transcription:
So there’s many different books about saying Kaddish, and I certainly encourage people to, of course, speak to your rabbi, but there are many articles, there are many books about Kaddish. It’s the opportunity, and what people don’t realize is that it’s a prayer not about death, rather it’s about life, and about the idea of our relationship with G-d, and that G-d is there as a source of strength and comfort for us during this time when, as I mentioned, we are cast asunder without the kind of supports that we usually have without the loved one to be there with us. And that’s one of the things that Kaddish does, is to remind us of that relationship with G-d, and that G-d is always there to be of support to us during this most difficult times of our lives. When we remember the loss of that loved one in a year’s time, which is what Yartzeit means, a year’s time, there’s also the tradition, as I mentioned before, about reciting Kaddish for a parent for 11 months minus one day. There’s a tradition that we, although there are some people who do say Kaddish for an entire year, for an entire 12 months, but there’s also the idea that in ancient times that the sentence for somebody who is wicked would be 12 months. So the idea is that we say Kaddish not for 12 months, but for 11 months minus one day, so we don’t continue into the 12th month. So that’s that idea, when people finish saying Kaddish, that maybe they’ll sponsor a breakfast or do something during that time. Sometimes people will recite texts from our Jewish tradition, recite Mishnah for the 30 days. There’s a variety of different opportunities to remember somebody through these various rituals. There’s the idea, also the tradition, of saying Kaddish that it helps to elevate the soul of our loved one, and that by saying Kaddish we’re helping to bring their soul heavenward and even higher as they do so each and every day until they come to the shiva, to the, I’m sorry, until they come to the Yartzeit.