The Connection Between Parshat Vaera And The Kaddish Prayer

When my father Oliver Shalam was saying Kadesh for his father, he once told me something very sincere. He said he felt a little disappointed with Kadesh. That's the memorial prayer for the dead we say. He said it doesn't say anything about the person who passed away. It doesn't describe their life, their goodness, their uniqueness. It just says may Hashem's name be magnified and sanctified. In parad, Hashem tells Moshe, "I appeared to Avam, to Yeitz, and to Yakov in the name of Kale Shadqai, but my name Hashem I did not make known to them." The Aos, the patriarchs, lived in a world of natural connection. But Moshe was sent into a darker world, a world of exile, a world where Hashem's presence was diminished and hidden. Moshe's job was to proclaim the name of Hashem. In the world of darkness, redemption begins not with light but with the awareness of its absence. Every nishama is a particular revelation of the light of Hashem in this world. When a nashama leaves, when a soul leaves, the world becomes darker. A measure of divine light has been withdrawn. And that's why kadesh doesn't speak about the departed. Kadesh is the mourner standing in a world that has become darker and saying the light will not remain diminished.