Kaddish Titkabal

Prayer as a sword and a bow

Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, about 1340) traces the pair "prayers and requests" to Yaakov's words to Yosef: he took land "with my sword and my bow." The Aramaic translation he quotes, like the usual printed Onkelos (the Aramaic Torah translation), turns the weapons into words: "by my prayer and my request." That, says Abudarham, is why the two words sit side by side. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) also reads the sword and bow as Yaakov's wisdom and prayer.

The wording took time to settle

The Half Kaddish unit tells how the Rambam (Maimonides, who died in 1204) says "the people became used to adding" this request to the last Kaddish. His wording is longer than ours: "May their prayers be accepted and their requests be carried out," and his peace line also asks for help and rescue. The French prayer book Machzor Vitry, from around 1100, has the line almost word for word as we say it. So different communities said it in different words.

Our Father in heaven

The line ends "before their Father in heaven." Abudarham says this is the Sages' own phrase, which they use in many places. Here is one, from the Mishnah (the Sages' first written collection of teachings, edited around the year 200). When Moshe raised his hands, Israel beat Amalek. Did his hands win the war? No, says the Mishnah. As long as Israel looked upward and gave their hearts over to their Father in heaven, they won. The Yehi Ratzon prayer tells another.

Only the last three lines are new

Up to "that are said in the world," this is the Half Kaddish you already know. What sets Kaddish Titkabal apart comes after. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) says it adds a request that our prayers be accepted. Then come the two lines that make a Kaddish "full": a wish for great peace and life, and "He who makes peace." The Half Kaddish unit explains everything before that.

One extra letter in the Ten Days

Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Siddur Sefard adds one letter: "oseh hashalom," "the peace." The Kaf HaChaim (laws and customs, Jerusalem, early 1900s), citing the Arizal (the great Kabbalist of Tzfat, 1500s), gives the reason: hashalom adds up to 381, like Sefriel, the angel who writes people into the Book of Life. In Kaddish he would not change the verse, except perhaps in this one, which ends the leader's Amidah. The Arukh HaShulchan (a code of law from around 1900) says it in Kaddish too.

Your prayer goes in with a crowd

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) says that when one person prays alone, God looks closely at that person's mistakes and good deeds, and the prayer goes in only with great force. A prayer of the many is different. Many of those people are not righteous, yet all their prayers go in before God, and God does not look at their sins. This line asks that the prayers of "all the House of Israel" be accepted. Now read "all" again.

וצלותא דיחיד, לא עאל קמי מלכא קדישא, אלא בחילא תקיפא... ועאלין כלהו קמי קודשא בריך הוא, ולא אשגח בחובייהו.

Amen opens the gates

The Zohar says that when people answer Amen with real focus, many doors of blessing open above. Then it adds a promise. When they are in trouble and pray, a voice calls out in all the worlds: "Open the gates, let a righteous nation enter, the keepers of faith" (Yeshayahu 26:2). The Zohar reads "faith" as "Amens." Just as their Amen opened the gates of blessing, now "open the gates," and "may their prayer be accepted." Now listen for the Amen at the end of this line.

פתחו שערים, כמה דישראל פתחין להו תרעין דברכאן, כך השתא פתחו שערים, ותתקבל צלותהון

When it feels unanswered

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic master who died in 1810) writes about someone who has called out to God for a long time and still feels far away. If you stay strong in your prayers, he says, God will answer in the end. He leans on the Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah): prayer needs strengthening, as the verse says, "Hope to Hashem, be strong... and hope to Hashem" (Tehillim 27:14). Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) explains: if your prayer was not accepted, go back and hope.

ואם לא תתקבל תפלתך, חזר וקוה

Prayer is not a way to change God

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) says prayer does not try to change anything in God, who does not change. Prayer is how we rise toward God, together with all the changes happening in us and in the world. Still, he says, the soul speaks to God as a ruling King who can change and as a Father who is ready to change. Why? Because a soul that wants to rise toward God is already rising. Now read "their Father in heaven" again.

אין התפלה חפצה לשנות שום דבר באלהות... אלא להתעלות עם כל השנויים החלים על הנפש

Why isn't there a Kaddish Titkabal here on Rosh Chodesh?

The note printed before this prayer says that on days with Musaf (the extra prayer on Rosh Chodesh, the start of a Hebrew month, and on holidays), the leader says only a Half Kaddish here. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on Jewish law, from around 1900) gives the rule: on a day with Hallel (psalms of praise) and Musaf, this Kaddish comes right after Hallel, where the morning prayer ends. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) has you take off tefillin before Musaf on Rosh Chodesh.

Why does the leader step back at the end, and why can't he chat before it?

The Shulchan Aruch says a leader steps back three steps after his silent Amidah, but does not need to again after repeating it out loud. The Mishnah Berurah says he relies on the steps of this Kaddish, which goes back to the Amidah even when the Torah reading, Hallel or Avinu Malkeinu come in between. So later authorities say he should not chat about other things until it ends.

Some people left during the repetition. Can the leader still say this Kaddish?

It depends on the custom. The Rema (who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) rules that if some left after the leader began the repetition, those who stay can say the full Kaddish after it, because it belongs to the prayer: it says "may their prayer be accepted." Most of the ten, at least six, must still be there. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) adds that the Sephardic custom (of Jews from Spain and the Middle East, not Nusach Sefard) is not to say it.

What changes in this Kaddish during the Ten Days of Repentance?

One phrase. Instead of le'ela min kol (above all), this siddur prints le'ela ule'ela mikol (far above all). The Arukh HaShulchan (a law code from about 1900) says the word count is the reason: one word is added, so one is dropped. The Mishnah Berurah gives the total as 28 words. The Kaf HaChaim notes that the Levush (Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, died 1612) doubled le'ela in every Kaddish of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but says that, following the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, a 1500s Kabbalist), nothing is added past the 28.

In the Ten Days, do I say "hashalom" at oseh shalom?

This siddur prints hashalom ("the peace") for the Ten Days. The Kaf HaChaim says the extra ha belongs after the Amidah in those days, for a reason from the Arizal. In Kaddish nothing says to change it, and the words are a verse from the Book of Iyov (Job 25:2), so they stay as written. But he adds that in the Kaddish after the leader's repetition it seems one can say hashalom, since it stands in for the Amidah's oseh shalom. This Kaddish is that one.