How Collective Kaddish for the Dead Was Born Today

Today, in Jerusalem, I am standing in solidarity with all human suffering, observing the Jewish fast day of the Tenth of Tevet that remembers the ravages of war. I am joining an interfaith vigil to mourn all innocent civilians killed on and since 10/7, and  lighting candles to honor all souls, welcome the Sabbath, and praying for peace to prevail. More details on how to join me - below.

I’m fasting today, as has been done on this day for 2,600 years,  to keep processing that ancient and lingering trauma, to hold space for the immense pain of the current crisis, and to make space for the healing of our the people living on the holy land, bound up with each other’s histories, hurts and hopes.  

Today’s video ( a bit longer than usual) includes words on why this fast matters more this year, an invitation to be part of a unique online interfaith grief vigil held online today and additional reflections on this day in history, including how  the Mourners Kaddish has its roots in the prophetic visions of  the Ezekiel - eyewitness to horrific history who refused to give up on hope in a broken world.

Some rituals get reinvented to address the needs of new generations. Such is today’s lesser known Jewish fast day that I invite you to mark with me today in whatever way works for you. There is much grief in our world right now and there is value in taking time and space for grieving rituals. 

Today, as this year nears its end on our Western calendar, and while this war continues its devastating toll, I’m fasting from sunrise till sunset, and devoting an hour just before the fast ends and the sabbath begins - for a silent vigil of mourning in remembrance of wars and lost lives - ancient and current. 

On the Jewish calendar today is the Tenth  of Tevet. This has been a fast day of grief for 2,600 years and was amended 70 years ago. 

It was first instituted in response to the trauma of Jerusalem’s destruction in 587 BCE. It’s the first of four dates on our calendar commemorating what was at the time our greatest national calamity - the destruction of the temple, the loss of sovereignty, massive death toll and exile. Ezekiel the prophet lived through this tragedy and documents this date in his earlier chapters. On this day the Babylonian Army set the siege upon Jerusalem. The final destruction of the starved and humiliated city would take 18 months.  The 10th of Tevet was the start of the siege. The 17th of Tamuz marks the first breach of the wall. The 9th of Av saw the burning of the Temple, and the 3rd of Tishrei was when the last Judean governor was murdered and the Judean era finally ended.  Each of these four dates are fast days on our calendar. 

For centuries, with each additional collective disaster, more meanings were attached to some of these days and more dates were added to the calendar of calamites. 

In 1949, in response to the horrors of the Holocaust, the rabbinate of the still quite young State of Israel declared the Tenth of Tevet as the Collective Kaddish Day - an opportunity to honor the countless dead who were not counted or buried, witn no known time or place of death. Those include my grandmother and other relatives. In our home an extra memorial candle was always lit on this day, and a Mourners’ Kaddish recited. 

This year, as I am reading through these chapters of Ezekiel on this @belowthebiblebelt929 journey,  I have a deeper sense of appreciation of the details of this ancient tragedy. 

And while this painful war rages on, I feel an extra need to lift up the life affirming rituals of our tradition - not just to mourn the past but also the present, perhaps to help us prevent some of the horrors of the future.  

In the last chapter that we read this week Ezekiel imagines the final war of the future, the messianic reality that will only come on the heels of major rupture and cosmic battles. And when that war is over, he imagines, the divine voice will be raised louder and the sense of the sacred will prevail over all discord. The prophet’s words include a phrase that will, with time, become the backbone of the Kaddish - the Prayer of Sanctification that evolved to be the Aramaic prayer with which we pause to honor our dead. 

Ezekiel speaks for God and says: 

וְהִתְגַּדִּלְתִּי֙ וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתִּ֔י וְנ֣וֹדַעְתִּ֔י לְעֵינֵ֖י גּוֹיִ֣ם רַבִּ֑ים וְיָדְע֖וּ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃    

“Thus will I manifest My greatness and My holiness, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations. And they shall know that I am YHWH.”

Ezekiel 38:23

“Manifest My greatness and My holiness” - V’hitgadalti V’hitkadashti - became Yitgadl V’yitkadash -- the opening words of the Kaddish, calling on us to be in the presence of mystery, humble in the face of death and life, helping to manifest a world of greater holiness and more love. 

Ezekiel’s futurist vision is about a world ravaged by violence and arrogant armies that defy decency and even silence the sacred - a world in which evil seems to be in charge, a world of injustice, yearning for justice. Our world. 

The Kaddish claims reality that’s larger than what meets us here and now, and it is a plea for divine intervention, for compassion and consolation, a request for justice and for peace. Whether our pain is personal or public, we suffer from the deaths that we encounter and with these words we yearn for healing, repair and redemption. 

On this day, I want to invite you to mark the mourning, maybe by reciting the Kaddish, alone or with others,  or through this powerful opportunity,  created by my friend and teacher, Rabbi Sandler-Regina Phillips, creator of Ways of Peace: An  interfaith vigil to honor the dead and bear witness to the suffering of the living.  

Rabbi Regina writes:  “Grounded in ancient Jewish practice, vigil-keeping allows us to bear witness to the current crisis — each in our own personal ways — as part of a collective support effort.  This year, the Day of General Kaddish on the Tenth of Tevet offers an opportunity to honor and mourn the thousands of innocent civilians whose bodies remain unidentified / unrecovered through the attacks of October 7th and the subsequent weeks of war. Whether the dead are Jewish or not, accompanying them — the named and the unnamed, Israelis and Palestinians and Asian migrant workers and African agricultural students and asylum seekers and beyond — is an ethical imperative that reflects millennia of Jewish teachings.”

If you are interested in  keeping vigil from your home — please see details in the post attached to this video. HERE. 

Ahead of Christmas, into shabbat and as this war continues to devastate so many lives and sow sorrow - may we find comfort, be each others’ healing, celebrate each sacred moment of life, raise sparks of joy, demand peace and lift up hope. 

Shabbat Shalom.