Final Sermon:
This Kaddish is a move from the sermon to the symposium.
Books just do not talk back.
Things that are oral we have no permission to freeze in print.
This is the essence of rabbinic Judaism.
Books are bound to have a beginning, middle and an end.
This Kaddish is a Torah, and more, since the parchments are not sewn together, giving the illusion of before and after.
There is no before and after (chronology) in Torah.
The unbinding of the book gives the web the last laugh.
I never want to see Adolf the Jew as a bound book.
I am the breaker of the back of books.
A traditionally trained Talmudist I finally understand the future of books.
A page of the Talmud, in fact every rabbinic text, resembles a web page.
This Kaddish gives a face to the book that is a memoir of my days.
I connect to all that is warp and woof of my story. Welcome to my world wide web.
Adolf the Jew is a Mikra’ot Gedolot and Talmud
The Hebrew Bible as studied by the Rabbis is set out on the page as a Mikra’ot Gedolot, an expanded version, (as in Yitkadal, first word of the Kaddish) which also looks like a website. The ever expanding Hebrew scripture contains Targums (translations) and the following commentators:
- RASHI (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki,born 1040 he gives the basic meaning of every verse with some homelitical elements based on the Midrash.
- Abraham Ibn Ezra, born 1092 a literary and grammatical approach to the text.
- RASHBAM (Rabbi Shmuale ben Meir, born 1085, a grandson of Rashi, examining the plain meaning of the text.
- RAMBAN(Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) born 1194. He offers literal interpretations that oppose RASHI and explains the Kabballahistic dimension of the text.
- SFORNO( Rabbi Ovadia ben Yakov) born 1475. He focuses on the ethical.
- David Kimchi, born 1160 Grammar and Rabbinic sources.
- GERSONIDES(Levi ben Gershon) born 1288, comments on weekly prophetic reading.
The Mikra’ot Gedolot is not limited to these seven since one finds comments on each ones commentary. The Soncino Chumash, is a digest, and runs to well over one thousand pages.
I am not saying that Adolf the Jew will become a Talmudic text.
My major work, The Final Age Testament will, with modern RASHI, Ibn EZRA, and RAMBAN, and more. I also expect every reader to respond. And comment.
Torah study takes place as a conversation. Commentaries are linked to commentary. The sermon for the synagogue is a comment on all the previous comments and never the final word.
It is time to update the very format of the page as we consider The Future of Books.
I send you now to a web page on the Talmud if you are not familiar with its layout. Hypertext and hot buttons abound. The Talmud draws the reader into the conversation. This is oral discourse recorded and bloged for comment. The reader produces more text as the text is grasped. The lexia, or blocks of text serve many functions, including cross referencing. Rashi’s wikipedia is invaluable, explaining terms in the text. Rashi and the other commentators also discuss the basic meaning of the unvoweled and unpunctuated discussion in the academy that is the text of the Talmud.
A page may take a day to read or a full week to comprehend. The Oral Law tradition opens the text to dialogue and symposium as we add our voices to the discussion. This is experienced in a chapter of Final Testament
Rather than the row upon row of goose-stepping sentences in modern traditional books, the Talmud makes a literal reading an impossibility, since cross referencing demands we examine each page in the context of every other page. The Talmud, in its essence, is an encyclopedia that is written like a modern stream of consciousness novel.
The Talmud, like this Kaddish never ends.
The page, representing a symposium, brings us back to the Passover Seder which is the model for my renovation of modern spiritual practice. (The ALPERN Seders)
Four times the Torah commands us to tell the original story of exile and redemption. We identify four types of children or disciples each of whom hears the story in their own unique way. To a point this Kaddish will follow that model.
The Kaddish is a separation that leads to sanctification and an Aliyah or uplifting towards transcendence.
This memoir will have no end since it will be up to future generations to recite Kaddish to uplift my soul.
My last will and (final) testament is that this memoir never be jacketed and bound as a book to be shelved.
The light of the screen is the illumination of this text.
I never want to see a tree destroyed so that the shadows of the light darken a wooden page. Now all the trees of the field may rejoice.
I acknowledge all who inspired this work in progress in this blue letter edition that will introduce my Bible, and all of my works.
The Original Kaddish (my translation) with Commentary (mine awaiting yours)
Exalted and Kaddished is the Great Name
In this world created according to your will,
Your sovereignty revealed
In the days of our lifetime
And the life of the whole house of Israel
Speedily and soon
And say, Amen.
May the Great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be The Name of the Holy One
Beyond all blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that may be uttered in this world, and say, Amen.
May there be abundant Shalom from Heaven, and life, for us, and for all Israel, and say, Amen.
May the one who makes Shalom in Heaven
Create Shalom for us and all Israel
And say, Amen.
This is a mourners Kaddish? Death is not mentioned. Rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem is not mentioned. The Messiah is not mentioned. (S/He is in the Sephardic version.) Resurrection of the dead is not directly mentioned.
The basic message is; “The Lord gives, The Lord takes away.” We are expected to respond “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”
What name? What is the Great Name?
For this we must reread the Book of Daniel. Start with the first two Chapters. The Book (author unknown) presents a God who rules and is in control of human events. Empires and kingdoms come into power according to God’s will. One day God will finally bring justice to the world and victory for Israel. The nightmare of history comes to an end.
Is Shalom the Great Name, the Peace that comes with the end of history, which is a chronicle of all our wars?
Before we answer we note the response of the community to the Kaddish:
“May the Great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity.”
This is the essence of the Kaddish and is from Daniel 2:20.
The second chapter teaches that God is a kingmaker, involved in history. God reveals mysteries, including the kings dream of gold headed statue with silver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, iron legs and feet part iron and clay.
Is the Great Name of God “Almighty”?
“God of Hosts”?
“Eternal?”
“Shalom”?
“I am”?
The answer is all of the above. God is named according to Gods deeds. God’s essence is taught to Moses at the Burning Bush where Gods name is nameless as the God of being.
Our concern is the God who acts in history, so my first choice for The Great Name is Shalom.
The name expresses the essence. I also have the name of the deceased in mine when I think of the Great Name in the Kaddish.
Exalted and Kaddished is
The Great Name
of the deceased.
In my case this is Adolf the Jew, my father.
