The Kaddish, which is sometimes referred to as the Great Doxology of Jewish liturgy, is a paean to God that is unsurpassed in Jewish literature.  Even Jews who are indifferent to many aspects of religious observance deem it a sacred duty to recite the Kaddish in memory of a departed mother, father, or other relative.  
    In a 1951 essay entitled My Father Moved, Max Lerner describes his emotions upon learning of the death of his father at the age of eighty-seven.  The elder Lerner was an ordinary, gentle, hardworking man who had led a roller coaster life.  He had been involved in a variety of occupations, including that of Hebrew teacher, and although he had not achieved great success in his professional life, he was respected and loved by his family.
    As Max Lerner viewed the shrunken, wasted body of his dying father, he was struck by the helplessness of man and "the crazy tragic absurdity of the whole human condition."
    But, Lerner relates, when along with the other mourners he recited the "thunderous syllables of the great Kaddish.  Yit-gadal ve-yit-kadash shmay rabbe, ('Glorified and sanctified by God's great name') the absurdity became a little less absurd. " Even the most rational of us," Lerner concludes, "must admit that there is a healing power in the ritual words when you face what reason cannot fathom."
    The late Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) visited the synagogue for the last time when he was a youth and never returned, declaring himself an absolute agnostic.  Yet, before he died, Frankfurter left instructions that the Kaddish be recited at his grave by Louis Henkin, a devoted colleague well versed in Judaism.  Justice Frankfurter explained that this was the only way to inform the world that he was leaving this life as a Jew.  
    The Mourners' Kaddish has, in many ways, become the thread that links Jews to their faith and binds the generations to each other. 

Summary of Traditional Observances Relating to the Kaddish

For whom Kaddish is recited
    · Kaddish is recited for anyone for whom a mourner sits Shiva:  a parent, child, sibling, and spouse.  One may also elect to say Kaddish for other relatives and even friends.  It is customary not to say Kaddish for others while one's parents are alive.
    · Adopted children are encouraged to say Kaddish for adoptive parents, but are not required to do so.
    · Most authorities agree that one need not heed the request of a parent that Kaddish not be said for him.

Minyan requirement
    · The Kaddish may be recited at a public prayer service only if a minyan (religious quorum) is present.

For how long recited
    · For parents, Kaddish is recited for eleven months, and for other relatives for thirty days.
    · A mourner who does not learn of the death of a parent until long after the burial is obligated to recite Kaddish only until the end of the eleventh month after burial.

Women and Kaddish
    · Although only sons are obligated to say Kaddish for parents, most authorities permit women to do so if they so wish.

Minors and Kaddish
    · Boys under Bar Mitzva age are obligated to say Kaddish for parents.  most authorities permit girls under Bat Mitzva age to do so if they wish. 

Second death in a family
    · If a mourner is saying Kaddish for a parent and another family member dies during those eleven months, the mourner says Kaddish for one additional month (a total of twelve months).

Kaddish during High Holiday period
    · The text of the Kaddish is slightly modified during the Days of Awe, the ten-day period from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur. *

                                                                           English transliteration                          Hebrew                                       Russian
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* all information was taken from The Jewish Mourner's Book of Why by Alfred J. Kolatch

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