The wording of Kaddish – in all its permutations – is altered during the Ten Days of Repentance (from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur). The rest of the year, Kaddish invokes the Aramaic word “l’eila” – asserting that God is “above” or “higher” or “beyond” our feeble ability adequately to praise. During the High Holy Days, we double down: God is “l’eila l’eila” – “far above” or “infinitely higher” or “way beyond” our ability suitably to bless or to describe (or fully to understand).
Perhaps it is the lengthy prayers and the seemingly endless verbiage of the High Holy Days which prompt the change: despite all those words and prayers and blessings… we still don’t even come close to conveying the reality of the Divine. God is “l’eila
l’eila” – so much higher than even the longest prayer, finest sermon, or most beautiful cantorial rendition can reflect.
“L’eila l’eila” echoes the synonymous Hebrew blessing directed at the Mohel at the celebration following a bris: that he should ascend “l’maalah l’maalah” – to “higher and higher” levels of personal fulfillment and spiritual merit. On the High Holy Days, this blessing represents a call to action: we all properly aspire “l’eila l’eila” – to “higher and higher” levels of faith, commitment, character, and devotion.
To squander this opportunity is the very height of folly.
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.”
Perhaps it is the lengthy prayers and the seemingly endless verbiage of the High Holy Days which prompt the change: despite all those words and prayers and blessings… we still don’t even come close to conveying the reality of the Divine. God is “l’eila 