Kaddish During COVID: Mourning Rituals During a Pandemic

Abstract

Traditional Jewish mourning practices include the recitation of Kaddish during the grieving period and on the recurring anniversary of death. Kaddish recital requires the presence of a minyan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine and lockdown limited possibilities to gather as a quorum. This article offers a prosopographic sketch of the array of solutions to this Corona Kaddish conundrum. Three classes of solutions are discussed: (1) ad hoc quorums, including pirate, balcony, outdoor, virtual, and drive-in quorums; (2) substitutes, including shades of Kaddish or replacement practices; and (3) workarounds, including quorumless, proxy, and catch-up Kaddish. Common characteristics emerge from the cluster of solutions, and the collage tells a story about Jewish tradition and ritual. First, no previous pandemic saw such a gamut of Kaddish possibilities. This change can be linked to digital information sharing and to mourners' desire for a means to recite Kaddish. Second, solutions were rooted in sources; no suggestion was entirely novel, indicating that there is a trove of sources hibernating until called upon by the community. Third, Jewish ritual may not be as frozen as many think and experience, since during the pandemic different ways of performing the ritual were entertained. Fourth, offered a plethora of options, practitioners of Judaism anonymously and unconsciously declared that Kaddish must be preserved. Moreover, ad hoc solutions and This article is dedicated to my grandmother, Chaya Kimelman. After a full life in Melbourne, Big Grandma (as we called her) moved to Jerusalem to be with her children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, and to continue her learning at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. At the age of 89, with 89 great-grandchildren, she contracted the coronavirus and passed away on 20 Tevet 5781, 4 January 2021.This research began as a series of virtual lectures in Zur Hadassa, Israel on Kaddish during the coronavirus pandemic. I had the opportunity to present my research at the Canadian Society for Jewish Studies Annual Conference held virtually in May 2021.

The Mediatization of Jewish–Muslim Dialogue in Germany Amid COVID-19

“…The effects of isolation on mental health cannot be excluded from the physical and spiritual spheres of human life (del Castillo et al 2020). Researchers focusing on transitions in Jewish communal life during the pandemic have also examined the adaptation of religious rituals and services to social-distancing measures and the personal dilemmas this entailed (Cooper 2021;Livne and Bejarano 2021), perceptions of antisemitism and xenophobia (Livne and Bejarano 2021), and the use of web broadcasts to create secular yet Jewish spaces providing "opportunities for public expressions of togetherness and solidarity, extending one's immediate family to include the entirety of the Jewish people" (Yares and Avni 2021, 17). Interfaith activities, that is, organized meetings between people who consider themselves to be representatives of two or more religious groups on the basis of a programmatic approach assuming religious differences (Nagel 2019, 112;Tsuria 2020, 438), are also an important aspect of Jewish communal work.…”

“Not Being Counted”: Women's Place and Religious Space in Jewish Orthodox Communities During the COVID‐19 Crisis

“…What are the boundaries that determine who can be included and who is excluded? (Cooper 2021). These inquiries demonstrate that balconies are perceived as part of the public domain for the purpose of forming a prayer quorum.…”

“…Studies on religious practice during COVID-19 describe the emergence of new, often online, religious practices and novel kinds of social spaces as a response to restrictions on physical gatherings (Baker et al 2020;Caponi and Carneiro Araújo 2020;Huygens 2021;Jones-Ahmed 2022;Parish 2020). Other studies, focusing on Jewish practice during the pandemic, explore the various partial arrangements substituting for in-person communal prayers and social gatherings, such as the use of Zoom in online communal services and events (Bankier-Karp and Shain 2022;Ben-Lulu 2021;Cooper 2021;Langer 2021;Trencher 2021). Our focus is different.…”

“…While street minyans reutilized the public sphere, balcony minyans made use of the domestic sphere. Both forms challenged the concrete and symbolic boundaries between “private” and “public” (Bram, Makovski, and Atias 2021; Cooper 2021). Based on interviews of Orthodox women and on textual analysis, we argue that, paradoxically, the destabilization of gender and spatial boundaries in these new religious spaces accentuated and reinforced the symbolic boundaries between men and women and heightened women's perception of marginality.…”

“…2020; Caponi and Carneiro Araújo 2020; Huygens 2021; Jones‐Ahmed 2022; Parish 2020). Other studies, focusing on Jewish practice during the pandemic, explore the various partial arrangements substituting for in‐person communal prayers and social gatherings, such as the use of Zoom in online communal services and events (Bankier‐Karp and Shain 2022; Ben‐Lulu 2021; Cooper 2021; Langer 2021; Trencher 2021). Our focus is different.…”