S.A.L.T. - Thursday

Bilam prefaces his second blessing to Benei Yisrael as follows: "Rise, Balak, and listen, give ear to me, the son of Tzipor!" The Midrash adds that Bilam here admonished Balak, "You have no right to sit as the Almighty's words are recited!"

This verse, innocuous as it may seem, arose in an interesting and very relevant halakhic discussion concerning the recitation of kaddish. The Rema, in Orach Chayim 56, writes that one must stand during kaddish. The Magen Avraham cites as the source of this halakha a comment in the Talmud Yerushalmi, which derives this obligation from Shoftim, chapter 3. There Ehud Ben Geira, the "shofet" (judge) at the time, tricks Eglon, the king of Moav who then oppressed Benei Yisrael, by telling him that he carries the "word of God." Eglon rose out of respect for the anticipated prophecy, at which point Ehud easily thrust his sword into the corpulent king's belly. In any event, the Yerushalmi understood Ehud's having bid the king to rise as indicating a requirement to stand for "the word of God," which includes kaddish, as well. The Magen Avraham proceeds to mention that the Maharil did not make a point of standing for kaddish, unless he had been standing already when the recitation of kaddish began. The Ar"i, adds the Magen Avraham, is quoted as having denied the authenticity of the text of the aforementioned passage in the Yerushalmi.

This final point, of the Arizal's rejection of the accepted text of this passage in the Yerushalmi, sparked a good deal of discussion among the Acharonim. To which part of this passage did the Ar"i refer? The Magen Avraham himself, and others, claim that the Ar"i did not actually deny the halakha itself. He merely rejected the Yerushalmi's proof as it appears in our texts. After all, the verses in Sefer Shoftim make no indication of Ehud's having instructed Eglon to rise. Therefore, while the Ar"i accepted the Yerushalmi's having required standing during kaddish, he denied the legitimacy of the source according to the prevalent text of the Yerushalmi.

So, how should the Yerushalmi be read? What is the correct text?

The Magen Avraham cites the Yonat Elem as suggesting a very slight emendation of the text, essentially retaining the source mentioned in the prevalent version. True, Ehud never bid the Moavite king to stand; however, the very fact that Eglon, a wicked, gentile king, stood out of respect for God's word proves that we, Am Yisrael, must certainly do so.

Rav Shlomo Kluger (in "Shenot Chayim"), however, introduces into the Yerushalmi our verse from Parashat Balak. He suggests that the original text of the Yerushalmi cited Bilam's order to Balak to stand before the delivery of his prophecy as the source for standing for kaddish. If this is true, we may speculate that the copy-editors' confusion arose from the fact that in both incidents, the one asked to stand was a king of Moav (Balak and Eglon).

Rav Yehuda Assad, in "Yehuda Ya'aleh" (vol. 1, Orach Chayim 11), rejects this proof from our verse in Parashat Balak. The Midrash, cited by Rashi, clearly indicates that Bilam ordered Balak to stand not out of concern for the Almighty's honor, but rather to "annoy" Balak. Balak, having already seen Bilam compelled to bless Benei Yisrael instead of cursing them, began mocking Bilam for his inability to act on his own. In response, Bilam sought to "return the favor" and cause discomfort to Balak. He therefore condescendingly ordered him to stand for his prophecy. This explains why only here Bilam issues such an order; he begins none of his other monologues with an instruction for his audience to rise. If so, argues Rav Assad, we can bring no proof from this incident that one must stand during kaddish, as respect and honor for God's word did not prompt this order.

Practically, while Sefaradim are generally lenient in this regard and allow sitting during kaddish, Ashkenazim by and large adopt the stringent ruling of the Rema. However, even among Ashkenazic communities there are those who allow sitting during kaddish unless one was standing already.

It hopefully goes without saying that talking during kaddish (and most other parts of tefila) is strictly forbidden.

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