A Liturgical Quandry

[debka_notion]

Those of you who've used certain prayerbooks have encountered the version of Kaddish with the names of concentration camps interspersed between each of the words. It's absolutely horrid, in terms of the meaning of the text of Kaddish, which praises G-d, and is not actually a mournful text.

On the other hand, I've seen it used, and while I despised it, I also found it frighteningly effective, as an emotion-provoking piece. I don't know why it works, but it does.

So, when faced with something so contradictory, what do you do?

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I've heard it done / participated in its reading, and it doesn't work for me at all. I don't like the way the camp names disturb the rhythm of Kaddish, and I don't like the way they interrupt the sense, and I think that a separate prayer for the lost six million would work much better. That prayer makes me acutely uncomfortable, and I try, if I have a choice, to leave the room before its reading.