KF Etzold wrote:
> I recognised that the kaddish does not mention the departed or death
>when I read it. But, as a philosophical question how did this become
the
>prayer for the dead, and in fact how can one tell that this is intended
as
>such, since as you mention it, it is in the praise of God. So the
connection
>to me is less than obvious.
My Rabbi wrote:
Dear Michel,
The recitation of the kaddish, at every service for one year
following
the death of a loved one, is indeed a praise of God (technically it is
called a "doxology") and is said for protection of the loved one's soul
as
it ascends the heavenly heights to be with God.
From a cosmological point-of-view, after death a soul can either go
directly to "Paradise" (Garden of Eden), or, if there has been some
sinfulness in the person's life, the soul goes to "Gehanna" to
experreince
a cleansing for a period of up to one year. After a year, the soul then
is allowed to go to Paradise to join everyone else. This experience in
Gehenna is perilous, and so we say a prayer of praise to God in order to
ask God for protection of that soul during its sojourn there.
I hope this is helpful to you and to your colleague. Let me know if
you need more.
--Jonathan Biatch
