Kaddish by the Ruins: A Liturgy

A 20-minute all-Yiddish song cycle based on the poems of Aaron Zeitlin, spanning liturgy, theology, music, song, spoken word and commemoration. 

Recorded by much loved Yiddish folk trio, the Bashevis Singers, with artwork by Anita Lester, Kaddish spans diverse theological and emotional notes: anger, accusation, lament, loss, despair, doubt, and belief. 

** We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University, and the Sunraysia Foundation for enabling this project to be fully realised. 

Any information on how to support us can be found on the contact or donate page- so we can continue creating.

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NB. Aside from the last poem, the translations are from Morris M. Faierstein’s selection of Zeitlin’s poems, Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith, iUniverse, 2007, though I have modified them slightly. The original Yiddish is from Zeitlin’s two volume collection, Lider fun khurbn un lider fun gloybn, Bergen Belsen Memorial Press, 1967-1970.

Annotations for Kaddish by the Ruins

Israel’s Ashes

Jeremiah was a prophet who was active in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, and hence the prophet who witnessed the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In addition to the book that bears his name, according to tradition, he was also the author of the Scroll of Lamentations (Megillat Eikhah), the dirge that commemorates the destruction. According to Lamentations 1:2 and 1:16, both Jerusalem and the author of the lament weep.

There are No Laments to Mourn

Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, is a solemn fast day commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem, as well as later tragedies that befell the Jewish people. It is marked by reading the Scroll of Lamentations and reciting qinnot, dirges.

Kaddish—a hymn of praise and part of the mourner’s prayer.

Where were You?

“Where were you” is the beginning of God’s reply to Job from the storm (see Job 38-41). Having questioned God’s justice, God replies to Job by pointing to the grandeur and mysteries of creation, and to the ignorance of the human being. Following God’s reply, Job is silent (see Job 40:3-5).

Leviathan (Job 40:25ff.) is a mythical beast associated with chaos, destruction and evil (see also Isaiah 27:1).

See BT Bava Batra 74b: “God created the great sea serpents (Genesis 1:21).... Rabbi Yoḥanan said, ‘This is Leviathan the elusive serpent and Leviathan the twisting serpent [see Isaiah 27:1]....’ Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, ‘Everything that the blessed Holy One created in His world, He created male and female. Even Leviathan the elusive serpent and Leviathan the twisting serpent He created male and female, and if they mated with another, they would destroy the entire world. What did the blessed Holy One do? He castrated the male and killed the female, salting her for the righteous in the world to come, as is written: He will slay the dragon of the sea (ibid.).’”

On the Ruins

“Mother Rachel” refers to the matriarch Rachel, the wife of Jacob, though the image of a mother without children points specifically to another biblical motif found in Jeremiah 31:15: A voice is heard on a height—wailing, bitter weeping—Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.

Rachel weeps for her children who have been sent into exile. See Bereshit Rabbah 82:10; Eikhah Rabbah, Petiḥta 24.

In kabbalistic literature, Mother Rachel symbolizes the Divine Mother, Shekhinah/Malkhut the last of the sefirot or divine emanations. Shekhinah (also referred to as the Assembly of Israel) is the female aspect of divinity, immanent and fragile.

See for example, Zohar 1:203a: “For when Jerusalem was destroyed, Shekhinah ascended and visited all those places where She had previously dwelled, and She wept for Her dwelling and for Israel who were going into exile and for all the righteous and pious who had been there and perished. How do we know? As is written: A voice is heard on a height—wailing, bitter weeping—Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15), as has been said.”  

See Zohar 3:20b: “Thus says YHVH: A voice is heard on a height—wailing, bitter weeping… (Jeremiah 31:15)… We have learned as follows: On the night when the Temple was destroyed below and Israel was exiled, with millstones round their necks and their hands bound tightly behind them, and Assembly of Israel was banished from the house of the King to follow them—when She descended, She said, ‘I will first go and cry over My dwelling and over My children and over My Husband.’ When She descended and saw Her place destroyed—blood of the pious streaming in it and the house burning—She raised Her voice, and those above and those below trembled, and the voice reached up to the place where the King dwells, and the King wanted to turn the world back into chaos. Then numerous camps and legions descended towards Her, but She would not receive them, as is written: refusing to be comforted for her children (Jeremiah 31:15), for She would not receive them. Because איננו (einennu), He is no more (ibid.)—because the Holy King had ascended far above and was absent, as is written: because einennu, He is no more; it is not written אינם (einam), they are no more.” See also Zohar 1:134a, 210a; 2:29b; ZḤ 92a-b (MhN, Eikhah).

“She once stood at Sinai” refers to the idea that the souls of all Jews, even those not yet born, were present at Sinai, and hence witnessed the reality of divinity. See Pirqei de-Rabbi Eli’ezer 41; Tanḥuma, Yitro 11, Pequdei 3, Nitsavim 3; Shemot Rabbah 28:6; BT Shabbat 146a; Rashi on Deuteronomy 29:14; Zohar 1:91a; 2:83b.

The phrase “He has seen” recalls Exodus 2:25 describing God’s witnessing of and concern for the Israelites’ suffering in Egypt: The children of Israel groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God saw the Israelites, and God knew.

The phrase “Where is He not found?” recalls the mystical assertion, “there is no place devoid of Him” (Tiqqunei Zohar 70, 122b). As the source of Being, as Being itself, there is no place without God. See Zohar Ḥadash, Yitro, 34c (TZ)., “There is no place where He is not, above and without end, and below without limit, and on every side there is no God but He.” Such mystical immanentism informs much Hasidic thought. See also Psalms 139:7-8: Where can I go from Your spirit and where from before You flee? If I soar to heavens, You are there, if I bed down in Sheol—there You are.

Amalek was the grandson of Esau and is the name of a people who in the Bible are Israel’s (and God’s) mythical enemy. See Exodus 17:8-16; Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Typologically, they signify the anti-Israel. Esau is Jacob’s brother, the wild man of the field in contrast to the quiet man of tents (see Genesis 25:27). In rabbinic texts, Esau (and Edom, his descendants) signify Rome and then Christendom.

The motif of Esau’s voice and Jacob’s hands is an inversion of the biblical account in Genesis 27:22 where Isaac proclaims: The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

According to tradition, Gog and Magog are enemies who will be destroyed by God and the messiah in the eschaton. See Ezekiel 38-39. The wars of Gog and Magog are a part of the birth pangs of the messiah and inaugurate the messianic era. See Sifrei, Numbers 76; BT Shabbat 118a.

We Jews are Not of this World

Rabbi Naḥman of Bratslav (1772-1810) was one of the most important Hasidic leaders following the generation of the Ba’al Shem Tov, his great-grandfather. I have not found a precise parallel to the teaching cited in the poem.

Perhaps Zeitlin is thinking of Liqqutei Moharan 1:250, where R. Naḥman describes Jews as “beyond nature.” Alternatively, Zeitlin may have in mind Rabbi Naḥman’s oft-repeated instructions to his followers to focus on higher spiritual worlds rather than this lowly world. Be that as it may, the fact that Jews are bound to higher worlds places them out of step with this world, and is the source of their suffering.

See for example, Liqqutei Moharan 2:119: “Our master said: Everybody says that there is this world [i.e., the world of earthly pleasures], and there is also the world to come. Now with regard to the world to come—we believe in its existence. Perhaps ‘this world’ also exists somewhere. But [this place] where we are now appears to be hell, since everybody is so constantly filled with sorrows. And he said: This world does not exist at all.” See also Liqqutei Moharan 1:65.

Although I assume Zeitlin is referring to Rabbi Naḥman of Bratslav, it is nevertheless possible that he (also) has an older rabbinic teaching in mind conveyed in the name of the Amora Rav Naḥman. The teaching explores the deeper significance of Israel’s adoption of the lunar calendar. (As noted in BT Sukkah 29a, “Israel counts by the moon, idolators by the sun.”)

See Bereshit Rabbah 6:3: “Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Yose son of Ila’i, ‘It is natural that the great should calculate by the great, and the small by the small. Esau calculates by the sun, which is large, and Jacob by the moon, which is small.’ Rav Naḥman said, ‘That is a happy presage. Esau calculates by the sun which is large: just as the sun rules by day but not by night, so does Esau have a share in this world, but has no share in the world to come. Jacob calculates by the moon which is small: just as the moon rules by day and by night, so Jacob has a share in this world and in the world to come!’”

See also Zohar Ḥadash (MhN) 14a-b which extends this motif and describes Esau as possessing dominion and military might in this world, whereas Jacob inherits the world to come. According to that passage God instructs the people of Israel: “In this world, go and diminish yourself; subjugate yourself in exile to attain the world to come.”

One Amalek and Esau, see above.

Ne’ilah (closing, locking) is the final prayer of the Yom Kippur service, just before the heavenly gates are sealed shut.

On gates of prayer, see also BT Berakhot 32b in the name of Rabbi El’azar: “Since the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer were locked as is said: Though I plead and call out, He shuts out my prayer (Lamentations 3:8). Even though the gates of prayer were locked the gates of tears were not locked, as is said: Hear my prayer, Lord, and give ear to my pleading, keep not silence at my tears (Psalms 39:13).”

Kaddish

The phrase “may His Name and throne become whole” is not found in the standard Kaddish prayer, and points to a mythological motif found in Midrash Tanḥuma, Ki Tetse 11, in turn based on Exodus 17:16 which describes God’s eternal war with Amalek: Because a hand is upon the throne of Yah, war for YHVH against Amalek from generation to generation.

“Rabbi Levi says in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina, ‘As long as the seed of Amalek is in the world, the Name is not whole and the throne is not whole. When the seed of Amalek passes from the world, the throne will be whole, and the Name will be whole.’”

Rashi explains the verse from Exodus as follows: “The hand of the blessed Holy One is raised to swear by His Throne to have eternal war and animosity against Amalek. Why is it written כֵּס kes, throne, and not כִּסֵּא kise, and why is the Name cut in half [the verse says Yah, יה, and note YHVH, יהוה]? The blessed Holy One swore that His Name will not be whole, nor will His throne be whole until the name of Amalek is totally obliterated. And when Amalek’s name will be obliterated, the Name will be whole and the throne will be whole.”

The plea that the letters of the divine name YHVH יהוה might bind those below in this world with those on the other side, namely the departed souls, is not found in the standard Kaddish. According to Kabbalah, the letters of the Tetragrammaton span the fullness of being. According to rabbinic teaching, the letters yod and he point to the world to come and this world respectively.

See Bereshit Rabbah 12:10: “כי ביה יהוה צור עולמים (Ki be-Yah YHVH tsur olamim), For by Yah YHVH, an eternal rock (Isaiah 26:4)—with these two letters the blessed Holy One created His world [thus interpreting the verse as For ביה (be-Yah), by (the letters) י ה (yod, he), YHVH צר עולמים (tsar olamim), formed worlds]. … ‘This world’ was created by ה (he)… and ‘the world that is coming’ was created by י (yod).” See also BT Menaḥot 29b.

On the motif of the tree sprouting over eternal streams, see Psalms 1:3: And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

Aaron Zeitlin (1898-1973) was described by his life-long friend Isaac Bashevis-Singer as the “greatest Yiddish poet,” and yet, he remains largely unknown beyond the circles of specialist scholars. Son of the towering Hillel Zeitlin—one of the most important literary and religious figures in pre-war Warsaw, Aaron penned (in Yiddish and Hebrew) volumes of poetry, plays, novels, as well as philosophical and literary essays. Like his father, Aaron stood at the centre of Jewish literary life in Warsaw in the 1920s and 1930s. Stranded in New York in 1939 where he lived until his death, he composed some of the most haunting Holocaust poetry we possess. Fusing deep kabbalistic knowledge with Yiddish modernist poetic form, Zeitlin’s poetry represents a unique moment in the history of Kabbalah, and in the history of Yiddish literature.  Only a fraction of his poetry has been translated into English. The interested reader should consult Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith, translated and edited by Morris Faierstein, iUniverse, New York, 2007.

Zeitlin’s khurbn lider contain diverse theological and emotional notes: anger, accusation, lament, sadness, loss, despair, doubt, certainty of belief, and paradox. All of the poems are deeply embedded in the mystery of Jewish existence. We hope we have done them justice.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University, and the Sunraysia Foundation in honour of the memory of Dr. Jan Randa, Jewish scholar, survivor and beloved educator of generations of Australian students, for enabling this project to be fully realised.

Husky Gawenda, Gideon Preiss, Nathan Wolski

Melbourne, Australia

2021/ תשפ"א