Prayers for Mourners

Overcoming Obstacles to Recite Mourner’s Kaddish with Dignity

My father died on Rosh Hashanah 5764. He died at home, in a clean white bed, surrounded by his wife ...

Finding My Voice Through the Book of Ruth

I have always fancied myself as a feminist. When I was in primary school, I remember arguing with one of ...

Two Women Make a Quorum

As I wrote in The Torch last fall, I started attending the early morning minyan at my synagogue with the ...

Reciting Kaddish in Unconventional and Unorthodox Circumstances

There were a couple of times when I said Kaddish in some unconventional or “unorthodox” circumstances, but they were quite ...

Lessons I Learned From Reciting Kaddish for Mom

The recitation of Kaddish benefits both the soul of the departed loved one, as well as the mourner.

The Memorial

I recently attended my friend’s father’s memorial. It was held at the Faculty House of Columbia University in a perfectly ...

Sleeping on Felix Frankfurter’s Couch

Joshua Henkin’s new novel, The World Without You, is now available.I want to talk a little more about my family of ...

Kaddish by Heart

The eldest son was chosen by his father to recite the Kaddish in his memory.Standing at the gravesite where his ...

Yizkor: The Unending Conversation

Yizkor is part of an ongoing conversation with the dead, but what we don't realize is that we constantly converse with the dead in daily life.

On Saying Kaddish: A Story

A story illustrates the power of reciting Kaddish for a parent.

Kaddish is a Mystery

The essence of Kaddish may be less in the meaning of the words than in the experience of reciting it with other Jews.

Kaddish Initiates Aveilut

After burial Jewish law requires the mourner to turn from despair in the face of death to the affirmation of life.