The Kaddish has been a particularly common theme and reference point in the arts, including the following:
In literature and publications (Alphabetical by author) • In Shai Afsai's "The Kaddish" (2010), a poignant short story that could happen in almost any town with a small Jewish community, a group of elderly men trying to form a minyan in order to recite the Kaddish confront the differences between Judaism's denominations. • In the first chapter of
Sholem Aleichem's novel ''
Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son'' the boy narrator, whose father just died, needs to quickly learn by heart the Kaddish - which he would have to recite - and struggling with the incomprehensible Aramaic words. •
Kaddish is a poem, divided into 21 sections and of almost 700 pages length, by German poet Paulus Böhmer. The first ten sections appeared in 2002, the remaining eleven in 2007. It celebrates the world, through mourning its demise. •
Kaddish in Dublin (1990) crime novel by John Brady where an Irish Jew is involved with a plot to subvert the Irish government. •
Nathan Englander's third novel,
Kaddish.com (2019), is about a grieving son who discovers a website that for a fee will match dead relatives with pious students who will recite the Mourner's Kaddish thrice daily on their behalf. In this manner, he outsources his obligation to recite kaddish for his father. • In
Nathan Englander's novel set during the Dirty Wars in Argentina,
The Ministry of Special Cases, the protagonist is an Argentinian Jew named Kaddish. • In
Torch Song Trilogy (1982), written by
Harvey Fierstein, the main character Arnold Beckoff says the Mourner's Kaddish for his murdered lover, Alan, much to the horror of his homophobic mother. • In
Frederick Forsyth's novel
The Odessa File, a Jew who commits suicide in 1960s Germany requests in his diary/suicide note that someone say Kaddish for him in Israel. At the end of the novel, a
Mossad agent involved in the plot, who comes into possession of the diary, fulfils the dead man's wish. •
Kaddish is one of the most celebrated poems by the
beat poet
Allen Ginsberg. It appeared in
Kaddish and Other Poems, a collection he published in 1961. The poem was dedicated to his mother, Naomi Ginsberg (1894–1956). •
Kaddish, a novel by
Yehiel De-Nur, in which he explores actual, semi-fictional, and fictional stories relating to
Hebrew struggles during
the Holocaust. •
Kaddish for an Unborn Child is a novel by the Hungarian Nobel Laureate
Imre Kertész. • "Who Will Say Kaddish?: A Search for Jewish Identity in Contemporary Poland," text by Larry N Mayer with photographs by Gary Gelb (Syracuse University Press, 2002) • In the September 20, 1998 Nickolodeon's
Rugrats comic strip, the character Grandpa Boris recites the Mourner's Kaddish in the synagogue. This particular strip led to controversy with the
Anti-Defamation League. • The Mystery of Kaddish. Rav "DovBer Pinson". Explains and explores the Kabbalistic and deeper meaning of the Kaddish. • In
Philip Roth's novel
The Human Stain, the narrator states that the Mourner's Kaddish signifies that "a Jew is dead. Another Jew is dead. As though death were not a consequence of life but a consequence of having been a Jew." • “Kaddish” is the penultimate and longest piece in poet Sam Sax's
chapbook STRAIGHT, in which he tells the story of the death of the speaker's first love due to an overdose, following narratives of the speaker's own addiction. In August 2016, Sax performed this poem at the Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam. •
Zadie Smith's novel,
The Autograph Man, revolves around Alex-Li Tandem, a dealer in autograph memorabilia whose father's
Yahrzeit is approaching. The epilogue of the novel features a scene in which Alex-Li recites Kaddish with a minyan. • Several references to the Mourner's Kaddish are made in
Night by
Elie Wiesel. Though the prayer is never directly said, references to it are common, including to times when it is customarily recited, but omitted. • Leon Wieseltier's
Kaddish (1998) is a book length hybrid of memoirs (of the author's year of mourning after the death of his father), history, historiography and philosophical reflection, all centered on the mourner's Kaddish.
In music (Alphabetical by creator) • Matthew J. Armstrong quotes the final lines ('oseh shalom bimromav...) in his work
"Elegy for Dachau" (2009). •
Kaddish is the name of
Symphony No. 3 by
Leonard Bernstein, a dramatic work for orchestra, mixed chorus, boys' choir, speaker and soprano solo dedicated to the memory of
John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on November 22, 1963, just weeks before the first performance of this symphony. The symphony is centered on the Kaddish text. • The Kaddish is spoken in Part V of the Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) by the composer
Ernest Bloch (1933). • Canadian poet/songwriter/artist Leonard Cohen uses words from the Kaddish in his 2016 final album entitled "
You Want It Darker", specifically in the title song, during the chorus. •
Kaddish is a work for cello and orchestra by
David Diamond. • The Israeli rapper
Dudu Faruk has mentioned the kaddish in the lyrics of his 2018 song, "Eliran Sabag" • Kaddish is a track by
Gina X Performance. • "Kaddish" is the 34th movement in
La Pasión según San Marcos by composer
Osvaldo Golijov. • "Kaddish" is a song by
Ofra Haza from her album
Desert Wind. • Nili Isenberg put the words of kaddish to the tune of
Hello while reciting kaddish for her father. •
Kaddish is the title of a 1979 composition for solo horn by the Russian-Israeli composer Lev Kogan (1927-2007). • The final words of Rabbi
Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev's
A Din Toire mit Gott ("A Lawsuit with God," also known as
The Kaddish of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok) are "Yisgadal v'Yiskadash Shemey Rabbah". •
Kaddish is the title for a work by
W. Francis McBeth for a concert band, based on the chant of the prayer. McBeth composed this work as a memorial for his teacher
J. Clifton Williams. •
Kaddish (ladder) canon is the final piece on the album "These are the Generations" by
Larry Polansky. It is an elegy for friends recently lost. • The French composer
Maurice Ravel composed a song for voice and piano using part of the Kaddish. It was commissioned in 1914 by Alvina Alvi as part of a set of two songs: "
Deux mélodies hébraïques" and was first performed in June 1914 by Alvi with Ravel at the piano. •
Kaddish Shalem is a musical work by
Salamone Rossi (1570–c. 1628), composed for five voices in
homophonic style, the very first
polyphonic setting of this text, in his "Hashirim Asher L'Shlomo",
The Song of Solomon. •
Inspired by Kaddish is a fifteen-movement musical composition by Lawrence Siegel. One of the movements is the prayer itself; the remaining fourteen are stories of the experiences of a number of Holocaust survivors Lawrence interviewed. It was debuted by the
Keene State College Chamber Singers in 2008. •
Mieczysław Weinberg's
Symphony No. 21 is subtitled "Kaddish". The symphony, composed in 1991, is dedicated to
Holocaust victims from the
Warsaw Ghetto. • Concept album
Kaddish (1993) created by
Richard Wolfson with Andy Saunders using the band name
Towering Inferno. • The song "Israel" by
Ween on the album
Shinola, Vol. 1 is a recitation of the mourner's Kaddish.
In visual arts (Alphabetical by creator) • Clay artist Steven Branfman threw
chawan (Japanese style tea bowls) every day for a year in honor of his departed son Jared who died from brain cancer in 2005 at the age of 23. For a year, they were the only pots he made. One chawan each day, no matter where he was. He and his family said Kaddish every day for a year. His daily chawan made at his
potter's wheel was his own personal Kaddish. Ten years later, an exhibition displaying all 365 Kaddish Chawan titled ''A Father's Kaddish
was held in the Thayer Academy Gallery. The online presentation of the exhibition can be seen on the website of The Potters Shop & School. Subsequently, an award-winning documentary of the same title was made by Spencer Films Jennifer Kaplan Producer/Director. The exhibition is also included in The Teabowl: East and West'', by Bonnie Kemske. • Artist
Mauricio Lasansky, familiar with Kaddish from his background, produced his Kaddish series of eight
intaglio prints, ten years after his Nazi Drawings, his statement of Nazi destruction and degradation. In 1978, the Argentine-born 62 year-old Lasansky completed his answer of peace and survival, his Kaddish prints. • Artist Max Miller traveled from synagogue to synagogue throughout New York and beyond, reciting the daily prayer in memory of his father and then painting a
watercolor study of the synagogue in which he recited it. • Following the deaths of both her parents within one week of one another, artist Wendy Meg Siegel created a
painting with a focus on the Kaddish, as part of her
canvas on canvas "text-tures" series, which explores methods of combining text and canvas in a somewhat “sculptural” manner.
Online (Alphabetical by creator) • Mira Z. Amiras and Erin L. Vang have taken the Kaddish as a starting point for a yearlong
collaboration titled, "Kaddish in Two-Part Harmony", consisting of a jointly written
blog and daily
podcast recording of Lev Kogan's "Kaddish" for solo
horn. • David Bogomolny
chronicled his yearlong recitation of kaddish in honor of his
father Dr.
Alexander Bogomolny, originally on
The Times of Israel blogs, in a series titled, "The
skeptic's kaddish for the
atheist", consisting of
traditional
Jewish sources,
religious text analysis,
modern interpretations and expressions of kaddish,
philosophy,
theology,
eschatology,
creative writing, and the personal
reflections;
memories; and
experiences of a
son in
mourning. • From 2016 to 2017 Rabbi Ariana Katz recorded a
podcast called "Kaddish" focused on
mourning ritual and
customs, featuring
first person storytelling and
interviews, using
Jewish tradition to
contextualize and deepen
themes of the show, and holding space at the intersection of
life and
death. "Kaddish" covered topics including mourning chosen
family,
reproductive loss,
illness, ritual
writing,
suicide,
LGBT burial,
tattoos and
conversion status, and state
violence. Featured guests
shared their personal and professional
expertise and
story.
Onscreen, in film (Chronological) • In the 1973 film
Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob (
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob), it is chanted at the end of the Bar-Mitzvah service. • In the film
The Passover Plot (1976), a revived Jesus dies finally and is mourned with a Kaddish recitation by a disciple. • In the film
Mikey and Nicky (1976), while an inebriated Nicky (
John Cassavetes) is laughing in front of his mother's grave, the disquieted Mikey (
Peter Falk) attempts to recite the Kaddish despite the distractions from his friend. • In the 1980 film
The Jazz Singer starring
Neil Diamond, character Cantor Rabinovitch (
Laurence Olivier) says the Kaddish while disowning his son. The Kaddish helps bring forth the power needed to evoke the emotion of loss. • In
Rocky III (1982),
Rocky Balboa recites the Mourner's Kaddish for Mickey. • In the film
Yentl (1983), at Yentl's father's burial, the rabbi asks who will say Kaddish (Kaddish is traditionally said by a son). Yentl replies that she will and, to the horror of those assembled, grabs the
siddur and starts saying Kaddish. • Steve Brand's feature documentary
Kaddish (1984), about
Yossi Klein Halevi's growing up as the child of his Holocaust survivor father, was named by the New York-based
Village Voice as one of the ten best films of the year. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 1985
Sundance Film Festival. • In
Torch Song Trilogy (1988), Arnold (portrayed by playwright
Harvey Fierstein) says the Mourner's Kaddish for his murdered lover, Alan, and Arnold's mother (portrayed by
Anne Bancroft) strongly protests. • The Kaddish is recited in the film ''
Schindler's List'' (1993), in the last scene at the factory. • Film
Saying the Kaddish (1999) by
Dan Frazer • The Mourner's Kaddish can be heard being recited by Collins and Roger during the song
La Vie Bohème in the
2005 film adaptation of the musical Rent along with
Dies irae and
Kyrie eleison. •
Konstantin Fam's
Kaddish (2019) centers on the testament of a former concentration camp prisoner who confronts and turns the lives of two young people from different worlds around, shedding light on the tragic history of their family. • The Kaddish as a form of religious excommunication (when recited for someone still alive) appears in the fantasy-documentary
A Kaddish For Bernie Madoff (2021), created by musician/poet
Alicia Jo Rabins and directed by Alicia J. Rose. The film tells the story of Madoff and the system that allowed him to function for decades through the eyes of Rabins, who watches the financial crash from her 9th floor studio in an abandoned office building on Wall Street.
Onscreen, in television (Alphabetical by program title) • In the television series
Babylon 5, Lt. Comdr. Susan Ivanova finally decides to sit Shiva and recite the Mourner's Kaddish at the end of episode "TKO" (Season 1, Ep. 14), for her father with an old family friend, Rabbi Koslov, who has come to the station to urge her to mourn. • In the television series
Drawn Together,
Toot Braunstein recites the Mourner's Kaddish in the episode "
A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special", after saying that her son was (metaphorically) dead. • In the television show
Everwood, Ephram Brown recites the Mourner's Kaddish at his mother's
unveiling. • In the second-season finale of
Homeland,
The Choice,
CIA agent Saul Berenson (
Mandy Patinkin) recites the Mourner's Kaddish while standing over the corpses of victims of a terrorist attack. • "
Kaddish" is the title of
Homicide: Life on the Street episode 5.17, in which detective
John Munch (
Richard Belzer), who is Jewish, investigates the rape and murder of his childhood sweetheart. •
Kaddish For Uncle Manny", episode 4.22 of
Northern Exposure (first aired 5-3-93) relates to Joel's (Rob Morrow) seeking out of ten Jews in remote Alaska to join him for Kaddish in memory of his recently departed Uncle Manny in New York City. Joel eventually decides, though, that saying Kaddish for his uncle is best accomplished in the presence of his new Cicely family, who although Gentile, are most near and dear to him. • In the television show
The Patient, episode 1.7, Dr. Strauss recites the Kaddish for his recently deceased wife. • The second season of the series
Quantico, FBI Special Agent Nimah Amin, herself a Muslim, recites the Mourner's Kaddish at Simon Asher's unveiling. • The fictional character
Dan Turpin was killed by
Darkseid in
Superman: The Animated Series, and a Rabbi said Kaddish at his funeral. An onscreen, post-episode message dedicated the episode to
Jack Kirby, a Jewish comic book artist, who influenced much of the comic book community. • In the series
Touched by an Angel, episode 3.5 (season 3, episode 5), Henry Moskowitz, a proud archaeologist on a dig at a Navajo excavation site, receives a surprise visit from zayda (grandfather). Sam hopes to reconcile with his grandson and Jewish family faith by asking him to say kaddish. • "
Kaddish" is the title of
The X-Files episode 4.15 (season 4, episode 15), in which a
Golem is avenging a murder.
Onstage, in dance, theater and musicals • In
Tony Kushner's play
Angels in America, the characters of Louis Ironson and
Ethel Rosenberg say the Kaddish over
Roy Cohn's dead body. Louis, a non-practicing Jew, mistakenly identifies the Kaddish as being written in Hebrew. •
Kaddish is a female dance solo choreographed by
Anna Sokolow to music by Maurice Ravel. • The Mourner's Kaddish can be heard being recited by Collins and Roger during the song "
La Vie Bohème" in the musical
Rent. • A brief portion of the Mourner's Kaddish (lines 34-36 above) is recited during the song "Prayer" in the musical
Come from Away. == See also ==