Kaddish

[ Ashkenazic Hebrew kah-dish; Sephardic Hebrew kah-deesh ]

noun

, Judaism.

, plural Kad·di·shim [kah-, dish, -im, kah-dee-, sheem].

1. (italics) a liturgical prayer, consisting of three or six verses, recited at specified points during each of the three daily services and on certain other occasions.
2. (italics) Also called Mourner's Kaddish. the five-verse form of this prayer that is recited at specified points during each of the three daily services by one observing the mourning period of 11 months, beginning on the day of burial, for a deceased parent, sibling, child, or spouse, and by one observing the anniversary of such a death.
3. Kaddishim, persons who recite this prayer.

Kaddish

/ ˈkædɪʃ /

noun

1. an ancient Jewish liturgical prayer largely written in Aramaic and used in various forms to separate sections of the liturgy. Mourners have the right to recite some of these in public prayer during the year after, and on the anniversary of, a death
2. say Kaddish
   to be a mourner

Word History and Origins

Origin of Kaddish¹

First recorded in 1605–15, Kaddish is from the Aramaic word qaddīsh holy (one)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Kaddish¹

C17: from Aramaic qaddīsh holy

Example Sentences

This tour de force contains an hour’s worth of haunting, intertwining phrases that feel like a combination of Requiem and Kaddish.

From Los Angeles Times

A violinist and a pianist gave a rendition of Maurice Ravel's interpretation of Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.

From BBC

The Republican Guard’s orchestra will play the “Kaddish” by French composer Maurice Ravel, written in 1914 based on a traditional Hebrew melody.

From Seattle Times

Soprano Vida Mikneviciute imparts a similar tone to Kuprevicius’s “Kaddish” and to excerpts from Weinberg’s “Jewish Songs.”

From New York Times

Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Kaddish” rings with melancholic truth as a mourning for the maternal religion from which he felt alienated by the Israeli state's abandonment of its principles as much as an incantation of Yisgadal for his mother.

From Salon