Ask The Rabbi
February 12, 1994, Issue #10

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This edition contains:
1.  Insights into Saying Kaddish

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Josh from Maryland writes:

>Dear Rabbi,
>
>I recently saw the movie "Schindler's List" and loved it.  
>Afterwards I began to wonder about the following:
>	1) Is one allowed to say Kaddish for anyone or does it have to be 
>	   for a relative?
>	2) Why is it that my Dad says Kaddish for all of my grandparents, but
>	   when he dies (after 120), I will say Kaddish only for him?
>	3) Is one allowed to say Kaddish for a non-Jew?
>
>                         Your friend,
>                         Josh 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Josh,

Before I answer your specific questions let me begin with some background 
about the content and the meaning of the Kaddish.

The earliest references to the Kaddish that we have are in writings from 
the Mishnaic era. Tractacte Sofrim (approximately 200 C.E.) states:

	"Mourners should say Kaddish after the Chazan finishes the Mussaf."

The earliest source for the actual text of the "Orphan's Kaddish" is in the 
works of the Gaonic period (approximately 600 - 900 C.E.). 

In discussing the Kaddish, most commentaries quote an event recorded in 
various Midrashic texts as their model:

"Rabbi Akiva saw a strange and afflicted man who told him that 
he has been dead for many years and because he was particularly 
sinful in his lifetime he was judged harshly.  When Rabbi Akiva 
taught the man's son to say Kaddish the man was spared the 
punishments."

This Midrash suggests that saying Kaddish is beneficial for the deceased.  
There is also a benefit for those who say the Kaddish.  When a person 
suffers a loss they are often bitter and resentful towards G-d.  They need 
the process of openly declaring His holiness and greatness to gradually 
bring them back to a recognition that the death is part of a greater plan 
and has cosmic meaning.  The effect of this public declaration is also 
suggested as the reason for the benefit to the deceased.  He has become the 
cause for a public sanctification of G-d's name which acts as an atonement 
for any desecration of G-d's name that his lifestyle might have caused.

1)	The most natural choice for those to say Kaddish for the deceased are 
his children.  If the deceased has no living children, then his 
grandchildren children would say Kaddish.  If he doesn't have 
grandchildren, then _any_ relative can say it for him; and if he 
doesn't have any relatives, _anyone_ can say it for him.

2)	Only his children are _obligated_ to say it for him because of the 
commandment to honor one's parents.  That is why when a parent -- who 
had been saying Kaddish for someone -- dies, Kaddish for this other 
relative ends.  However, that doesn't mean that one can't say it on 
one's own initiative. 

3)	May one say Kaddish for a non-Jew? 
	Rabbi Oshry in his book, "Responsa from the Holocaust" writes:  "In 
1945 shortly after our liberation, Reb Moshe Segal came to me with 
the following question:  He had been saved by a gentile woman who, at 
enormous risk to herself, had hidden him in her basement together 
with ten other Jews, providing them all with food and shelter until 
the liberation.  After the war, when these Jews wanted to repay her 
in some way for her great compassion they discovered to their deep 
sorrow that she had died right after the liberation.  The idea took 
root in their minds to say Kaddish for her, and Reb Moshe Segal was 
chosen for the task.  His question was whether it is permissible to 
say Kaddish for a gentile?"

	After mentioning a number of sources, Rabbi Oshry decided:  "...it is 
clearly permissible to say Kaddish in memory of the gentile woman who 
saved so many Jews from death... May He who grants bounty to the 
Jewish people grant bounty to all the generous non-Jews who 
endangered themselves to save Jews." 

Sources:
	Tractate Sofrim, Chapter 19
	Gesher Hachayim, by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tuchachinsky, Ch. 30
	Responsa from the Holocaust, by Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, #85
	
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