Skip to content
Menu
beitmalkhut.org
  • contact us
  • yizkor—minyan remembrances
  • tzaddik stories
  • seymour fromer z”l
    • mira z. amiras — san francisco
    • harold lindenthal — nyc and hartford
    • fred rosenbaum, brooklyn and berkeley
    • joe hoffman, jerusalem
  • jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore
    • study group topics and schedule
  • recommended readings
    • death and dying
    • selected articles by todd
    • selected articles by ovid
    • selected articles by mira
beitmalkhut.org

daily kaddish: with squeaky dog toy

Posted on 2 July 20116 July 2011 by erin

[powerpress]

Finally back from Asia after nine days, a 20-hour journey, and a 37-hour Saturday, I made a Kaddish on horn again at long last. I was beyond thrilled to be working with an instrument again (finally!), with a decent Blue Yeti microphone and Garage Band instead of iTalk on an iPhone or iPad, with my kaddish collaborator Mira reading the text live. Kaddishim the way they’re supposed to be again, finally!

Except…

Except my dog Kjersti had other ideas. Just as we set up the gear and hit Record, Kjersti grabbed a squeaky toy and went nuts with it, chomping the squeaker and snapping the toy’s neck.

The percussive effect was inspiring to both of us, as you’ll hear. In the stopped passage better known as “that THING,” I couldn’t resist doing a little improv in response to Kjersti’s squeaker motif. In nearly all of it, Mira could barely suppress laughter.

You just never know whence the lessons of the daily mourning ritual will come. On this day of finally returning home to “kaddish in two-part harmony” as usual, Kjersti reminded us both that there are more important things than bereavement, prayers, and music.

Like squeaky toys.

A kaddish for somber kaddishim.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • kaddish in two-part harmony (552)
    • essays (158)
    • guest essays (11)
    • podcasts (388)
    • project news (13)
    • tzaddik stories (31)
  • Seymour Fromer z"l (16)
  • the rebbe's queer daughters (11)

Posts

  • kaddish for anke akevit (2015-20)
  • a kaddish for too many suicide victims—but it gets better!
  • a kaddish for sigrid syltetøy vang, b. 2006, d. 27 February 2018
  • guest kaddish: velvet marquesa flicka storm, 11 august 2005–9 april 2015
  • the stones I cannot place
  • oh amy, how could you — a kaddish for amy smith
  • guest kaddish: Gudrun Fossum Vang (16 June 1905–3 April 1972)
  • occasional kaddish: for Josephine Selvig Anderson (11 April 1915– 22 January 2012)
  • and death is so much closer than it was—a kaddish for rebecca fromer
  • easy come easy go: a kaddish for adrienne cooper
  • nyt remembrances—a kaddish for departed strangers
  • guest kaddish from David Mohr—for Kimba
  • killing you loudly—a kaddish
  • anything, anything but a mystical experience
  • daily kaddish: our project’s yahrtzeit

Contact the authors

email mira and erin: kaddish@beitmalkhut.org

Archives

anthropology backstage cats Charlotte Adams China choreography collaboration dads death death and dying divorce dogs exhaustion grief japan Jewish identity John Manning kabbalah kaddish life cycle Magnes Museum Malkah Middle East moms mourning murder music musicians musicology parenting piano ritual Sephardi Seymour Fromer Space Place suicide supine text the rebbe's queer daughters tzaddik tzaddik stories University of Iowa women writing yahrtzeit

Copyright

© 2010–22 by Mira Z. Amiras and Erin Vang (beitmalkhut.org). All rights reserved worldwide.

thank you—תודה רבה

Permission to use Lev Kogan's "Kaddish," © 1982 by Israel Brass Woodwind Publications
In-kind support: Global Pragmatica LLC®

meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2022 beitmalkhut.org | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes