Poetry of Eli Siegel
Kaddish
(Words Having Holiness)
Translated from the Hebrew by Eli Siegel
May His great name
Be mighty and holy
In the world
His will has made.
May this be with speed,
And in a near time.
Amen.
May His kingdom
Come to be
In your life, your days,
And in the life
Of the House of Israel:
May this be with speed,
And in a near time.
Amen.
May His great name be blessed
For ever, for ever.
Blessed, praised, made glorious;
Extolled, heightened, and honored,
Made mighty and lifted up—
Be the name of the Holy and One,
Whom we bless;
Even though He is high
Above all blessings and hymns,
Extollings and comfortings:
All that are uttered
In the world.
And, say ye,
Amen.
May peace come from on high,
Opulently;
And life for us,
And for all Israel.
And say ye,
Amen.
May He who makes peace
In His high places,
Make peace for us,
And for all Israel.
And say ye,
Amen.
From Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems (Definition Press)
© 1957 by Eli Siegel
Note: Eli Siegel’s Translation of the Kaddish together with his essay The Meaning of the Hebrew Kaddish was published in Commentary, 1953.
Kaddish (Words Having Holiness). 1952. The Hebrew Mourning Prayer. It is remarkable how the praise of God and the world he is shown by, is the chief substance of something to be said when a particular person is felt as lost by the mourner. I have written of this elsewhere — in The Meaning of the Hebrew Kaddish. Definition Press, 1954. The language of the Hebrew (or Aramaic) in the Kaddish — Yisgadal vay-yiskadash shmay rabaw, and so on — pounds on, and soothes. Appeared in Commentary, 1953.