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A review by lpm100
Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier, Dawidowicz
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Book Review
Kaddish
5/5 stars
"An extravagant intellectual edifice"
*******
Essentially, this book is the story of a lapsed Jew (of *extremely* superior intellect and verbal ability) who, while following tradition and reciting kaddish for his deceased father for a year enters into an intellectual odyssey about the origins of the kaddish (which actually says nothing about death or mourning).
And yet it is so much more.
Wieselter himself defined the book in a TV interview: "It is a combination of a scholarly work (on the origins of the Jewish customs of mourning); a philosophical work (on death and mortality); and a spiritual journal. As writers discover when they're writing something with an inner necessity, then those external questions fall away and ultimately the work is what it is."
It is written in the most difficult way, which is: as a series of aphorisms. It puts me in mind of Eric Hoffer, who also wrote this way. (Oh, but that I could write this way; all people who put pen to paper should aspire to write like this.)
I don't heretofore remember reading a book so difficult or that took so much intellectual bandwidth (it took me every bit of 7 months of stopping and starting before it was finished; I had to consciously make a decision to not read other books until this one was done)
The book is in 16 parts, all marked by Roman numerals, with no titles, and really no clear reason that I can discern for the breaks.
∆∆∆First is that:
It's absolutely maddening that the book is not indexed, nor is there a single citation for these voluminous texts that the author brings down. Also, something like a timeline would have been helpful to clarify exactly how many hundreds of years it took for this discussion to complete itself.
Wieseltier is (or was) an Orthodox Jew, and so he knows the importance of citing references; on the other hand, foundational Jewish texts such as "Mishneh Torah" also deliberately did not cite references in order to close the way for a bunch of later bickering and counter arguments.
And that may be the line of reasoning of this author.
∆∆∆Second is that:
It makes the reader know that the literature of Judaism is unconquerably large. It almost seems like it would be better to not get started at all, because once you did start then there's no possible way to finish.
For all of the massive bulk of responsa on Jewish law ("Halacha"), over 99% of it is ignored. And of that small residual bit which is studied, only the conclusions are studied and not usually the original text. (I have talked to people that are professional students and rabbis, and they have not heard of the majority of these texts--or if they have heard of them, it has only been vaguely.)
If somebody thought to study source texts from 1,000 years ago in order to trace the history of something, then there would be a whole book there.
*Is* a whole book there, as happens in this case.
∆∆∆Third is that:
Between all of the later rabbinic interpretations and pseudepigraphia, how can someone know what's real? (For instance, the story of Akiva and the tax collector from Lodkiya is nowhere to be found in any texts even roughly contemporaneous with Akiva himself. And even in 17th century Amsterdam, "No one version of this story is like another" [p.128].)
*******
What do we learn from this author's deep dive into historical sources about kaddish?
1. The Mourners' Kaddish is not something that sprang into existence right at the beginning of Rabbinic Judaism-nor had it appeared by the time of Mishneh Torah. It varied between Ashkenazim and Sephardim as far back as 1305 CE. Even in certain parts of Europe, the old custom of one person reciting Kaddish on behalf of everyone is still the custom (p.390).
2. We get a taste of the many scholars that were instrumental in shaping Judaism into the form that it currently exists--at this moment. (Maimonides. Rashi. Nahmanides. Moses of Coucy. Judah the Pious (d. 1217, CE). And many others. In current times, it seems like every second or third adult Jewish Orthodox male calls himself "Rabbi," and it's easy to forget just how few people were involved in the foundational parts of earlier Judaism.
3. There exists a Geonic document called "The Registry of the Differences Between the Customs of Israel and the Customs of Babylonia."
4. A lot of things are later interpolations. (p. 97-- "Who was Solomon of Lyon? I have never heard of such a figure. The text indicates that this is a later interpolation into the book.") In this case, the story (in which R'Akiva teaches a man's son so that that son may recite on his punished father's behalf) is pseudepigraphical (p.386).
5. The customs come and the customs go; communities randomly choose one or the other, and after enough time passes it's like the opposition never was. For example, some people specifically avoided drinking water or taking a meal between Musaf and Mincha (Rabbeinu Tam). Nowadays all have kiddush and seudah shlishit.
6. Kedusha d'sidra (Uva letzion, said at Mincha Shabbat) is said on behalf of the Dead who must go back to Gehenna at the end of the Sabbath. This was true by the 13th century, although before then Justification of Judgment ("BDE") was said.
7. (p.314) There was even discussion about the custom to feed mourners round foods, and whether that was best served by lentils or eggs. Of course, eggs won out... But there was discussion.
8. (p.314). Kaddish is said for 11 months by a child for a parent, and not the full 12 so it's to not impute wickedness to him. But, a friend who who says it for a person that is childless is under no such obligation, and he may say it for the full 12. (Feinstein).
9. Does the son acquit the father or does the father acquit the son? It seems that the ruling has come down that the father cannot acquit the son to the extent that the son can acquit the father (p.387). And that explains why the child recites for 11 months for a parent, but everybody else recites only for 30 days.
10. It seems that the Sephardim had developed the custom of all mourners saying the kaddish in unison much earlier than the Ashkenazim (t appears to be around 1831), and there was lots of back and forth before this accommodation was finally reached. Centuries of back and forth.
11. "Even though he sinned, he is a Jew" is said to be one of the most momentous sentences in the history of the Jews." It is Talmudic. (p.449). These days, that statement has been severely canceled/qualified and seems to no longer extend to converts.
12. The custom to not take a haircut during the days of mourning was initially accustomed to wrap the head in the manner of the Arabs ("Ishmaelites"). It was a bit too uncomfortable in Christian lands and so an alteration had to be made by the Ashkenazim.(pps. 483-485); this was made to avoid ridicule sometimes, and for purposes of physical safety others.
13. Kaddish yatom (orphan's kaddish) was enacted rabbinically because children are too young to say "Barechu" and because Kaddish is insignificant enough for minors to say it.
14. All enactments of kaddish are rabbinic, and it was originally a doxology for after teaching and preaching.
Second order thoughts:
1. If I didn't know before, I know now that: it is quite pointless to forward engineer correct or true answers; what is "true" is what has survived by happenstance. Or whatever. Even though it is this way, there's no reason that it could not have been different.
What is the point of trying to ascertain truth? It's very much like trying to build a physical structure on quicksand.
2. It is interesting to speculate what Judaism will turn into in the next several centuries, given that everybody is a rabbi and needs to find some way to differentiate his product from all of these competitors.
It took several hundred years to resolve these issues around kaddish with many fewer cooks in the kitchen; in the near future, I could imagine some issue coming up that will not be resolved before the heat death of the universe.
Verdict:
Recommended, but it is not for the faint of heart.
It's a real slog, but it is worth it just for Wieselter's exquisite prose craftsmanship.
After spending a very long time oscillating between donating the book and keeping it, I think I have decided on the latter.
-On the one hand, there is so much to be gleaned that it cannot be done on the first pass and a second pass is necessary. On the other, reading the book The First Time took so much out of me that is hard to imagine doing it again.
-On the one hand, this can give a reader familiarity with a VAST number of unknown/understudied sources.
-On the other, there are only a tiny fraction of even the most Orthodox people who actually have read these sources--and so whom are/would you be addressing?
Vocabulary:
Christological awkwardness
peroration
rostrum (amud)
precentor (shliach tzibbur/ cantor/ chazzan)
calumny
prayer quorum (minyan)
exequies
antinomian
trisagion (".......קדוש, קדוש, קדוש")
expiation
salvific
scion
teleological
Rashi literature
Justification of the Judgment (tsiduk ha'din)
animadversion
"Demand The Reason" (p.88).
provenance
glossator
ratiocination
apotropaically
mystagogues
Pseudepigraphic
Tosafists (Talmudic
masterminds of Franco German Jewry in the High Middle Ages)
miter hat
theosophy
theurgy
quiddity
excursus
apotheosis
chiliastic
angelology
perdurability
grappa
mitron/ matran
chaperon
kappe (German word for Jewish hair covering)
storz
Heraclitean River
monist
antinomy
Texts:
Arb'ah Turim
Sefer Mitzvot Gadol
Ma'aseh haMikhri
Shibbolei ha'Leket
Nishmat Chayim
Torat haAdam
Machzor Vitry
Kol Bo
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva
Rashi's Siddur
"Rashi Literature"
Old Jewish Aramaic Prayer: The Kaddish
Yeah Nohalim (The Bequest)
Hegyon ha'nefesh ha'Atsuvah (Reflections of the sad soul)
Responses of the Tongue (Ma'aneh Lashon)
Sefer Yetsirah (The Book of Creation)
Etz Chaim (Tree of Life)
Zohar Hadash
Hibbur Yafeh me-Ha'Yeshua
Midrash Tanhuma
Shomer Emunim (Keeper of the Faiths)
Tanna D'Bei Eliyahu Zuta (The Teaching of the School of Elijah, the Lesser Version)
Torat Buddha
Sefer Hasidim/Book of the Pious
Ma'amar Hikur HaDin (An Essay Inquiring Into Judgment)
Megillat Efra (The Scroll of Darkness)
Milhamot ha'shem (The Wars of The Lord)
Noda Be'Yehudah (Renowned in Judah)
Crossing the Jabbok/Ma'avarYabbok
The Pitcher of Flour/Kad ha'Kemah
Aruch HaShulchan
Masekhet Hibut (The Tractate of The Torments of the Grave)
Midrash Tanhuma
The Book Of The Orchard (Sefer haPardes)
Sefer Mitzva'ot Katan (The Small Book of Commandments)
Book of Customs
Emek haBakhah (The Vale of Weeping)
Sefer haDema'ot (The Book of Tears)
Sefer haMinhagim (Book of Customs)
Scholars:
Menashe Ben Israel
Abraham ben Isaac
Saadia Gaon
Yosef Solovetchik (The Rav)
Simcha Bunim Pesicha
Sy Agnon
Nahmanides
Hayim Judah Ehrenreich
Aaron of Lunel (Aaron ben Meshulam Ben Yaakov)
Isaiah of Train
Zedakiah the Physician
Meir Ben Baruch of Rothenberg
Eliezer of Worms
Moses of Coucy
Isaac ben Ghiyyat
Eliezer Ben Yohel haLevi
Ephraim Margolioth
Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen
David deSola Pool
Abraham Horowitz
David Ben Joseph Abudarham
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfect
Bahya Ben Asher of Saragossa
Hai Gaon
Nahum ha'Pakuli
Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi
Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh
Hayyim Yosef David Azulai
Nissim Ben Jacob
Isaac Aboab
Aaron Roth
Solomon Buber
(Zeev Zabotinsky)
(Getzel Selikovitch)
Judah the Pious
Menachem Azariah of Fano
Judah Loew Ben Bezalel
Ezekiel Landau
Abraham of Minsk (Abraham ben Judah Leib Maskileison)
Menachem haMeiri
Solomon ben Abraham Adret
Aaron Berachiah Ben Moses of Modena
Bahya Ben Asher of Saragossa
Yechiel Michel Epstein
Moses Isserles (The Rema)
Adolf Jellinek
Benjamin Zev ben Mattathias
Meir Ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen
Israel Isserlein
Joseph Garçon (Portuguese exile of Castilian origin)
Moses Mintz (German Talmudist)
Jacob Moellin (Maharil)
Mordecai ben Abraham Jaffe
Abraham Gombiner (Mogen Avraham)
Moses Sofer (Chatam Sofer)
Zvi Hirsch Chajes
Akiva Eger
Beer Oppenheim
Jacob Ettlinger
David ben Zimra (Radbaz)
Jacob Ben Asher (Ba'al ha Turim)
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet
Eliezer Ben Nathan
Solomon ben Sampson of Worms
Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre
Isaac of Corbeil
Rabbi Abba bar Zabda
David ben Hayyim haCohen
Meshullam Finkelstein of Warsaw
Joseph Hahn Nordlingen
Sherira Gaon
Nathan Ben Jehiel
Hananel Ben Hushiel
Joseph haCohen
Simon Bernfeld
Meir Segal (Meir Ben Baruch haLevi of Fulda)
Isaac of Tyrnau
Yosef Ben Mattathias Reeves
Isaiah Astruc
Kaddish
5/5 stars
"An extravagant intellectual edifice"
*******
Essentially, this book is the story of a lapsed Jew (of *extremely* superior intellect and verbal ability) who, while following tradition and reciting kaddish for his deceased father for a year enters into an intellectual odyssey about the origins of the kaddish (which actually says nothing about death or mourning).
And yet it is so much more.
Wieselter himself defined the book in a TV interview: "It is a combination of a scholarly work (on the origins of the Jewish customs of mourning); a philosophical work (on death and mortality); and a spiritual journal. As writers discover when they're writing something with an inner necessity, then those external questions fall away and ultimately the work is what it is."
It is written in the most difficult way, which is: as a series of aphorisms. It puts me in mind of Eric Hoffer, who also wrote this way. (Oh, but that I could write this way; all people who put pen to paper should aspire to write like this.)
I don't heretofore remember reading a book so difficult or that took so much intellectual bandwidth (it took me every bit of 7 months of stopping and starting before it was finished; I had to consciously make a decision to not read other books until this one was done)
The book is in 16 parts, all marked by Roman numerals, with no titles, and really no clear reason that I can discern for the breaks.
∆∆∆First is that:
It's absolutely maddening that the book is not indexed, nor is there a single citation for these voluminous texts that the author brings down. Also, something like a timeline would have been helpful to clarify exactly how many hundreds of years it took for this discussion to complete itself.
Wieseltier is (or was) an Orthodox Jew, and so he knows the importance of citing references; on the other hand, foundational Jewish texts such as "Mishneh Torah" also deliberately did not cite references in order to close the way for a bunch of later bickering and counter arguments.
And that may be the line of reasoning of this author.
∆∆∆Second is that:
It makes the reader know that the literature of Judaism is unconquerably large. It almost seems like it would be better to not get started at all, because once you did start then there's no possible way to finish.
For all of the massive bulk of responsa on Jewish law ("Halacha"), over 99% of it is ignored. And of that small residual bit which is studied, only the conclusions are studied and not usually the original text. (I have talked to people that are professional students and rabbis, and they have not heard of the majority of these texts--or if they have heard of them, it has only been vaguely.)
If somebody thought to study source texts from 1,000 years ago in order to trace the history of something, then there would be a whole book there.
*Is* a whole book there, as happens in this case.
∆∆∆Third is that:
Between all of the later rabbinic interpretations and pseudepigraphia, how can someone know what's real? (For instance, the story of Akiva and the tax collector from Lodkiya is nowhere to be found in any texts even roughly contemporaneous with Akiva himself. And even in 17th century Amsterdam, "No one version of this story is like another" [p.128].)
*******
What do we learn from this author's deep dive into historical sources about kaddish?
1. The Mourners' Kaddish is not something that sprang into existence right at the beginning of Rabbinic Judaism-nor had it appeared by the time of Mishneh Torah. It varied between Ashkenazim and Sephardim as far back as 1305 CE. Even in certain parts of Europe, the old custom of one person reciting Kaddish on behalf of everyone is still the custom (p.390).
2. We get a taste of the many scholars that were instrumental in shaping Judaism into the form that it currently exists--at this moment. (Maimonides. Rashi. Nahmanides. Moses of Coucy. Judah the Pious (d. 1217, CE). And many others. In current times, it seems like every second or third adult Jewish Orthodox male calls himself "Rabbi," and it's easy to forget just how few people were involved in the foundational parts of earlier Judaism.
3. There exists a Geonic document called "The Registry of the Differences Between the Customs of Israel and the Customs of Babylonia."
4. A lot of things are later interpolations. (p. 97-- "Who was Solomon of Lyon? I have never heard of such a figure. The text indicates that this is a later interpolation into the book.") In this case, the story (in which R'Akiva teaches a man's son so that that son may recite on his punished father's behalf) is pseudepigraphical (p.386).
5. The customs come and the customs go; communities randomly choose one or the other, and after enough time passes it's like the opposition never was. For example, some people specifically avoided drinking water or taking a meal between Musaf and Mincha (Rabbeinu Tam). Nowadays all have kiddush and seudah shlishit.
6. Kedusha d'sidra (Uva letzion, said at Mincha Shabbat) is said on behalf of the Dead who must go back to Gehenna at the end of the Sabbath. This was true by the 13th century, although before then Justification of Judgment ("BDE") was said.
7. (p.314) There was even discussion about the custom to feed mourners round foods, and whether that was best served by lentils or eggs. Of course, eggs won out... But there was discussion.
8. (p.314). Kaddish is said for 11 months by a child for a parent, and not the full 12 so it's to not impute wickedness to him. But, a friend who who says it for a person that is childless is under no such obligation, and he may say it for the full 12. (Feinstein).
9. Does the son acquit the father or does the father acquit the son? It seems that the ruling has come down that the father cannot acquit the son to the extent that the son can acquit the father (p.387). And that explains why the child recites for 11 months for a parent, but everybody else recites only for 30 days.
10. It seems that the Sephardim had developed the custom of all mourners saying the kaddish in unison much earlier than the Ashkenazim (t appears to be around 1831), and there was lots of back and forth before this accommodation was finally reached. Centuries of back and forth.
11. "Even though he sinned, he is a Jew" is said to be one of the most momentous sentences in the history of the Jews." It is Talmudic. (p.449). These days, that statement has been severely canceled/qualified and seems to no longer extend to converts.
12. The custom to not take a haircut during the days of mourning was initially accustomed to wrap the head in the manner of the Arabs ("Ishmaelites"). It was a bit too uncomfortable in Christian lands and so an alteration had to be made by the Ashkenazim.(pps. 483-485); this was made to avoid ridicule sometimes, and for purposes of physical safety others.
13. Kaddish yatom (orphan's kaddish) was enacted rabbinically because children are too young to say "Barechu" and because Kaddish is insignificant enough for minors to say it.
14. All enactments of kaddish are rabbinic, and it was originally a doxology for after teaching and preaching.
Second order thoughts:
1. If I didn't know before, I know now that: it is quite pointless to forward engineer correct or true answers; what is "true" is what has survived by happenstance. Or whatever. Even though it is this way, there's no reason that it could not have been different.
What is the point of trying to ascertain truth? It's very much like trying to build a physical structure on quicksand.
2. It is interesting to speculate what Judaism will turn into in the next several centuries, given that everybody is a rabbi and needs to find some way to differentiate his product from all of these competitors.
It took several hundred years to resolve these issues around kaddish with many fewer cooks in the kitchen; in the near future, I could imagine some issue coming up that will not be resolved before the heat death of the universe.
Verdict:
Recommended, but it is not for the faint of heart.
It's a real slog, but it is worth it just for Wieselter's exquisite prose craftsmanship.
After spending a very long time oscillating between donating the book and keeping it, I think I have decided on the latter.
-On the one hand, there is so much to be gleaned that it cannot be done on the first pass and a second pass is necessary. On the other, reading the book The First Time took so much out of me that is hard to imagine doing it again.
-On the one hand, this can give a reader familiarity with a VAST number of unknown/understudied sources.
-On the other, there are only a tiny fraction of even the most Orthodox people who actually have read these sources--and so whom are/would you be addressing?
Vocabulary:
Christological awkwardness
peroration
rostrum (amud)
precentor (shliach tzibbur/ cantor/ chazzan)
calumny
prayer quorum (minyan)
exequies
antinomian
trisagion (".......קדוש, קדוש, קדוש")
expiation
salvific
scion
teleological
Rashi literature
Justification of the Judgment (tsiduk ha'din)
animadversion
"Demand The Reason" (p.88).
provenance
glossator
ratiocination
apotropaically
mystagogues
Pseudepigraphic
Tosafists (Talmudic
masterminds of Franco German Jewry in the High Middle Ages)
miter hat
theosophy
theurgy
quiddity
excursus
apotheosis
chiliastic
angelology
perdurability
grappa
mitron/ matran
chaperon
kappe (German word for Jewish hair covering)
storz
Heraclitean River
monist
antinomy
Texts:
Arb'ah Turim
Sefer Mitzvot Gadol
Ma'aseh haMikhri
Shibbolei ha'Leket
Nishmat Chayim
Torat haAdam
Machzor Vitry
Kol Bo
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva
Rashi's Siddur
"Rashi Literature"
Old Jewish Aramaic Prayer: The Kaddish
Yeah Nohalim (The Bequest)
Hegyon ha'nefesh ha'Atsuvah (Reflections of the sad soul)
Responses of the Tongue (Ma'aneh Lashon)
Sefer Yetsirah (The Book of Creation)
Etz Chaim (Tree of Life)
Zohar Hadash
Hibbur Yafeh me-Ha'Yeshua
Midrash Tanhuma
Shomer Emunim (Keeper of the Faiths)
Tanna D'Bei Eliyahu Zuta (The Teaching of the School of Elijah, the Lesser Version)
Torat Buddha
Sefer Hasidim/Book of the Pious
Ma'amar Hikur HaDin (An Essay Inquiring Into Judgment)
Megillat Efra (The Scroll of Darkness)
Milhamot ha'shem (The Wars of The Lord)
Noda Be'Yehudah (Renowned in Judah)
Crossing the Jabbok/Ma'avarYabbok
The Pitcher of Flour/Kad ha'Kemah
Aruch HaShulchan
Masekhet Hibut (The Tractate of The Torments of the Grave)
Midrash Tanhuma
The Book Of The Orchard (Sefer haPardes)
Sefer Mitzva'ot Katan (The Small Book of Commandments)
Book of Customs
Emek haBakhah (The Vale of Weeping)
Sefer haDema'ot (The Book of Tears)
Sefer haMinhagim (Book of Customs)
Scholars:
Menashe Ben Israel
Abraham ben Isaac
Saadia Gaon
Yosef Solovetchik (The Rav)
Simcha Bunim Pesicha
Sy Agnon
Nahmanides
Hayim Judah Ehrenreich
Aaron of Lunel (Aaron ben Meshulam Ben Yaakov)
Isaiah of Train
Zedakiah the Physician
Meir Ben Baruch of Rothenberg
Eliezer of Worms
Moses of Coucy
Isaac ben Ghiyyat
Eliezer Ben Yohel haLevi
Ephraim Margolioth
Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen
David deSola Pool
Abraham Horowitz
David Ben Joseph Abudarham
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfect
Bahya Ben Asher of Saragossa
Hai Gaon
Nahum ha'Pakuli
Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi
Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh
Hayyim Yosef David Azulai
Nissim Ben Jacob
Isaac Aboab
Aaron Roth
Solomon Buber
(Zeev Zabotinsky)
(Getzel Selikovitch)
Judah the Pious
Menachem Azariah of Fano
Judah Loew Ben Bezalel
Ezekiel Landau
Abraham of Minsk (Abraham ben Judah Leib Maskileison)
Menachem haMeiri
Solomon ben Abraham Adret
Aaron Berachiah Ben Moses of Modena
Bahya Ben Asher of Saragossa
Yechiel Michel Epstein
Moses Isserles (The Rema)
Adolf Jellinek
Benjamin Zev ben Mattathias
Meir Ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen
Israel Isserlein
Joseph Garçon (Portuguese exile of Castilian origin)
Moses Mintz (German Talmudist)
Jacob Moellin (Maharil)
Mordecai ben Abraham Jaffe
Abraham Gombiner (Mogen Avraham)
Moses Sofer (Chatam Sofer)
Zvi Hirsch Chajes
Akiva Eger
Beer Oppenheim
Jacob Ettlinger
David ben Zimra (Radbaz)
Jacob Ben Asher (Ba'al ha Turim)
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet
Eliezer Ben Nathan
Solomon ben Sampson of Worms
Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre
Isaac of Corbeil
Rabbi Abba bar Zabda
David ben Hayyim haCohen
Meshullam Finkelstein of Warsaw
Joseph Hahn Nordlingen
Sherira Gaon
Nathan Ben Jehiel
Hananel Ben Hushiel
Joseph haCohen
Simon Bernfeld
Meir Segal (Meir Ben Baruch haLevi of Fulda)
Isaac of Tyrnau
Yosef Ben Mattathias Reeves
Isaiah Astruc