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Above and Beyond Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Above and Beyond Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Above and Beyond Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Above and Beyond: Musical and Textual
Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Joey Weisenberg and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
“A Year of Life Turned Upside Down” - Ta’anit Esther with Hadar
February 25, 2021
L’eila
(melody by Joey Weisenberg1)
תּ ַבּח ַ ִשׁ
ְ ִת ָבּ ַר ְך וְי
ְי Yitbarach v’yishtabach,
ִתנַשּא ְ רומם וְי
ַ ִת ְ ִת ָפּאַר וְי ְ וְי v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnaseh,
ִת ַה ָלּל
ְ ִת ַע ֶלּה וְי
ְ ִת ַה ָדּר וְיְ וְי v’yithadar v’yit’aleh v’yit’halal
.ִיך הוּא ְ ְר בּ .א שָׁ ד
ְְֻ שׁ
ק דּ הּ מ
ֵ ְ sh’mei d’kud’sha, b’rich hu
שׁי ָר ָתא
ִ ְְל ֵע ָלּא ִמן ָכּל ִבּ ְר ָכ ָתא ו l’eila min-kol-birchata v’shirata,
שׁ ְבּ ָח ָתא וְֶנ ֱח ָמ ָתא ְתֻּ tushb’chata v’nechemata
.ַדּ ֲא ִמי ָרן ְבּ ָע ְל ָמא da’amiran b’alma,
:אָמן
ֵ וְ ִא ְמרוּ v’im’ru: “amen.”
1
Watch Joey perform “L’eila” with members of the Hadar Ensemble from B’nai Jeshurun on 12/30/20:
https://youtu.be/TF8nVCBwr1I?t=1463
1
Above and Beyond: Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Joey Weisenberg and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
“A Year of Life Turned Upside Down” - Ta’anit Esther with Hadar - February 25, 2021
2
Above and Beyond: Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Joey Weisenberg and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
“A Year of Life Turned Upside Down” - Ta’anit Esther with Hadar - February 25, 2021
A baraita teaches: Rabbi Yose said: One time I was מהלך הייתי אחת פעם : יוסי רבי אמר ,תניא
walking on the path, and I entered a ruin from one of מחורבות אחת לחורבה ונכנסתי ,בדרך
the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah of ושמר לטוב זכור אליהו בא . להתפלל ירושלים
blessed memory came and watched the doorway ... .לי על הפתח עד שסיימתי תפלתי
until I finished my prayer....
לבתי נכנסין שישראל בשעה ...: לי ואמר
He said to me...: “Whenever the Israelites go into the שמיה יהא ועונין מדרשות ולבתי כנסיות
synagogues and schoolhouses and respond: ‘May His
ראשו מנענע הוא ברוך הקדוש מבורך הגדול
great name be blessed’, God shakes His head and
,כך בביתו אותו שמקלסין המלך אשרי :ואומר
says: “Happy is the king who is thus praised in His
לבנים להם ואוי , בניו את שהגלה לאב לו מה
house! Woe to the father who had to banish his
.שגלו מעל שולחן אביהם
children, and woe to the children who had to be
banished from the table of their father!”
(B. Berachot 3a)
The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, שׁ ְבְניָה
ַ ֲח ָבּנִי יאל ֵ וְ ַק ְד ִמ יֵשׁוּ ַע ַה ְלוִיִּם אמרוּ
ְ ֹוַיּ
Sherebiah, Hodiah, and Pethahiah said: “Rise, bless ֶאת ָבּ ֲרכוּ קוּמוּ ְפ ַת ְחיָה שׁ ַבְניָה ְ הוֹ ִדיָּה ֵשׁ ֵר ְביָה
God your God who is from eternity to eternity: ‘May ָ ו ָהעוֹלָם ַעד ָהעוֹלָם ִמן ֱאלֹ ֵהי ֶכם יְקֹוָק
ֵשׁם ִיב ְרכוּ
Your glorious name be blessed, exalted though it is :וּת ִה ָלּה
ְ מם ַעל ָכּל ְבּ ָר ָכה ַ וּמרוֹ ְ בוֹד ָך
ֶ ְכּ
above every blessing and praise.’”
(ה:)נחמיה פרק ט
(Nehemiah 9:5)
It is as if when Israel is in trouble, even then He is with שכן,כביכול כשישראל בצרה אף הוא עמהם
them, as it is written (Isaiah 63:9): In all of their ,(כתיב בכל צרתם לו צר )ישעיה סג ט
troubles, he was troubled.
Rabbi Meir said: YHVH saved (vayosha) on that day (Ex ,(אמר ר' מאיר ויושע ה' ביום ההוא )שמות יד ל
14:30) - God was saved (vayivasha) .... ,ויושע כתיב
(Midrash Tanhuma (Buber) Parashat Aharei Mot) ()מדרש תנחומא )בובר( פרשת אחרי מות
3
Above and Beyond: Musical and Textual Reinterpretations of Kaddish
Joey Weisenberg and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
“A Year of Life Turned Upside Down” - Ta’anit Esther with Hadar - February 25, 2021
The concept of a God who is Himself pained by the sufferings of His children is a powerful
and rich idea....The Midrashic God mourns just as do human beings: sitting in sackcloth,
weeping, walking barefoot (Lam. R. 1:1).
Perhaps most poignantly, God reverses the famous verse in Isaiah: (40:1) “Comfort, O
comfort my people, says your God” עמי נחמו ]נחמו ] to a plea that the people assuage His
pain: “Comfort Me, comfort Me, O My people [( ]נחמוני נחמוני עמיPDRK 16:9).
God is not only suffering, but turns to human beings as they so often turn to Him, to salve
the wounds of this world.
(David Wolpe, Healer of Shattered Hearts, pp. 147, 150)
Now the Jew who is tormented by his afflictions thinks that he alone suffers, as if all his
personal afflictions and those of all Israel do not affect [God] above, God forbid. Scripture
states, however, “In all their troubles, He was troubled” (Isaiah 63:9), and the Talmud states:
When a person suffers, what does the Shekhinah say? “My head is too heavy for me, My arm
is too heavy for Me.” Our sacred literature tells us that when a Jew is afflicted, God, blessed
be He, suffers as it were much more than the person does.
It may be that since He, blessed be He, is not subject to any limitation - for which reason no
conception of Him is possible in the world - therefore His suffering from Israel’s troubles is
also boundless. It is not merely that it would be impossible for a person to endure the
experience of such great suffering, but that even to conceive of His suffering, blessed be He -
to know that He, blessed be He, does suffer, to hear His voice, blessed be He: “Woe for I have
destroyed My House and have exiled My children” -is impossible, because He is beyond the
confined of the human.
(Eish Kodesh, Feb 14, 1942 - trans. Nehemia Polen)
This approach is an alloy of sorrow and triumph; it both burdens and comforts (p. 108)…In
the school of R. Akiva, God’s bond to Israel is one of intimate empathy. God, as it were, is
linked to Israel with bonds of love, participating in its suffering and redeemed by its
salvation (p 116) …R. Akiva and his cohorts believed that it is better to limit belief in God’s
power than to dampen faith in God’s mercy (p. 119)…Between mercy and power, mercy
takes precedence—and to the mercy of Heaven there is no limit! Certainly this doctrine was
no song of joy….This doctrine is one of lament and woe, but it is a lament that contains
great comfort. (p. 121).
(Heavenly Torah, Abraham Joshua Heschel - trans. Gordon Tucker)