Half Kaddish

It cannot stand on its own

Kaddish is never said out of nowhere. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) states the rule: Kaddish is never said without praise before it. That is why the evening prayer starts without one. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, around 1900) puts it more simply: you will never find a Kaddish without verses before it, except one that follows a prayer. This one stands on all of Pesukei DeZimra, the psalms you just said.

When it was set here

The Ohr Zarua (a law book by Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna, 1200s) quotes his teacher Rabbi Elazar of Worms: the morning Kaddish was set before Barchu, after the psalms. Yishtabach, the one blessing in between, does not count as a break. The Kaddish DeRabbanan unit has the Arizal's view of why Kaddish comes back at each step.

Where the public prayer starts

The Rambam (Maimonides, who died in 1204) describes the public morning prayer step by step. It opens like this: everyone sits, the chazan goes before the ark and stands in the middle of the people, and he begins with Kaddish. All answer "Amen, yehe shemeh rabba" with all their strength. Then comes Barchu, then the blessings of Shema. In his telling, the community's prayer begins with this Kaddish. (The Yishtabach prayer explains why the chazan stands up for Yishtabach.)

The laws of Kaddish start here

Open the Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) to the morning prayers. Right after the laws of Yishtabach comes a chapter called "Laws of Kaddish." Its first words are "We say Kaddish." Two commentaries, the Taz (1600s) and the Mishnah Berurah, explain those words the same way: "meaning, after Pesukei DeZimra." So the rules for every Kaddish of the day are taught at this one. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short guide to daily law, 1860s) says it plainly: after Yishtabach, the chazan says Half Kaddish.

Why the chazan bows

Rav Nachshon Gaon, head of an academy in Babylonia, taught that the one saying Kaddish bows: four required bows and one optional, the Tur (a law code from the 1300s) reports. The Tur and Siddur Rashi (from Rashi's school) tie the bows to a verse that speaks of God's name again and again, "My name is great among the nations" (Malachi 1:11), but count differently: five bows in the Tur, four in Siddur Rashi. The Chayei Adam (a law guide, Vilna, 1800s) says to bow, but notes the Vilna Gaon held not to bow in Kaddish.

One prayer, not many pieces

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic master who died in 1810) taught that a whole prayer should become one thing. When you reach its last word, you should still be standing at its first word. His student Rabbi Natan uses this to explain why Kaddish is said in the middle of the prayers. Kaddish is "above all the blessings and songs," where everything is one and all good. All the words of praise you have said need to be gathered into one. Now read the words again, right after the songs of Pesukei DeZimra.

וְעַל כֵּן אוֹמְרִים הַקַּדִּישׁ בִּשְׁעַת הַתְּפִלָּה, כִּי עִקַּר תִּקּוּן הַתְּפִלָּה כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּהְיֶה הַתְּפִלָּה כֻּלָּהּ נִכְלֶלֶת בְּאֶחָד

Nothing is old

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) wrote in his private notebooks against the tired sigh that "there is nothing new under the sun." Look past the surface, he wrote, and you find that "nothing is old, everything blossoms, everything rises." Even the falls and the steps backward are full of a spirit of climbing. The glory of God, wrapped inside creation, becomes known to us more and more, always growing. He ends that passage with the first words of Kaddish: "Yitgadal veyitkadash shemeh rabba."

כבוד אלהים, העטוף בהיצירה הרחבה, בכל גוניה העשירים והשונים, מתודע אלינו, בזיוו האידיאלי, ההולך ומתגדל; יתגדל ויתקדש שמיה רבא.

The hoping is the vessel

Rabbi Avraham Dov of Ovruch, a Chassidic rebbe, wrote the book Bat Ayin. He looks at what we are doing when we say "Yitgadal veyitkadash." We are praying that God's Name become great and holy. He says the waiting itself matters. Our hoping, our asking, our eyes looking out for it: that is the vessel for God's light, the light that is still to come. And that hope, he writes, is joined into the Amen of Kaddish. Now say your Amen with that in mind.

וזה שאנו מתפללים יתגדל ויתקדש שמיה רבא, היינו שיתגדל ויתקדש שמו יתברך, זה הוא הכלי לגלוי אורו מחמת שאנו מצפים ע"ז ומבקשים ועינינו מיחלות ע"ז

It starts at the source

Zohar Chadash (a collection of more teachings from the Zohar, the central book of Kabbalah) reads the first line of Kaddish in order. First comes "His great Name," the source of life, where every blessing and every holiness comes from. Only after that does Kaddish draw it down "in the world which He created as He willed," which it calls the lower world. Every blessing works this way, it says: first toward the source of everything, then down to the lower world. The one exception is the Amidah blessings where you bow: those go from below to above.

יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵיהּ רַבָּא, הַהוּא שֵׁם רַבָּא עִילָּאָה עַל כּוֹלָּא, מְקוֹרָא דְחַיֵּי, דְּמִינֵיהּ נָפְקִין כָּל בִּרְכָאן וְכָל קִדּוּשָׁן

Is a Half Kaddish worth less than a full one?

No. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) calls it the core of every Kaddish. The other versions are this core plus added lines. Answering the core matters so much that you may stop for it even in the blessings of Shema. The Amens on the added lines count for less, and you do not stop for them.

I'm in the blessings of Shema and hear Kaddish. What do I answer?

It depends whose ruling you follow. The Mishnah Berurah: answer only Amen and yehe shemeh rabba through almaya, without adding yitbarakh, and Amen after da'amiran be'alma. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) follows the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the 1500s Kabbalist): answer all five Amens of the Half Kaddish, and say the response through da'amiran be'alma, even there. In the psalms before Yishtabach, the Kaf HaChaim adds, you may answer any Amen.

Can I walk in front of the person saying Kaddish?

Not during the Half Kaddish. The Kaf HaChaim rules that just as you may not pass in front of someone praying the Amidah, you may not pass in front of someone saying Kaddish. The rule runs from the start to da'amiran be'alma ve'imru amen, the end of the Half Kaddish. The lines added after that are only custom, so it does not cover them. Peninei Halakhah explains that the laws of Kaddish were modeled on the Amidah: the one saying it stands, and the ban covers four amot (about two meters) around him.

Why does the chazan bow here, but not take three steps back?

The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) has the chazan bow five times: at yitgadal, yehe shemeh rabba, yitbarakh, berikh hu, and the last Amen. The Kaf HaChaim records bowing at each Amen. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code from about 1900) notes the Gra's (the Vilna Gaon's) doubts, and says these are only a slight bend. The three steps come before oseh shalom, a line the Half Kaddish does not have. The Kaf HaChaim: the custom is to step back only in the Kaddish after the Amidah repetition.

People walked out. Can the chazan still say Kaddish?

If he began it with ten, he finishes, as long as most are still there. The Mishnah Berurah: most means six. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) calls walking out a sin, unless ten stay. What if they left during Yishtabach, before Kaddish began? The Pri Megadim (a 1700s commentary) was unsure, since this Kaddish belongs to Yishtabach. The Mishnah Berurah cites three later authorities who rule that it is not said.

My tefillin just arrived. Can I put them on now?

Before Kaddish, yes. The Rema allows putting on a tallit or tefillin that arrived between Yishtabach and Kaddish, with their blessings. But between Kaddish and Barchu you stop for nothing. The Mishnah Berurah adds a catch: once the arm tefillin is on, you may not stop to answer until the head one is on too. So start only if you will finish before yehe shemeh rabba and Barchu, or already heard them. If not, he says it is better to wait until the chazan has finished Barchu.