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: for Margot Powers

Posted on 6 November 201127 November 2011 by erin

[powerpress]

The “Kaddish in two-part harmony” project has led to some remarkable experiences for both Mira and me, in which we have had the privilege of joining people in their most intimate moments of grief.

It happened again on my last weekend with the dancers at University of Iowa. After our penultimate performance, Saturday night, there was a cast party, and after that, a handful of us went to a nearby club where someone who has accompanied dance classes for years was performing with his cover band.

I got to talking with Dana, one of our dancers, and I don’t remember how we got started, but I explained why I was playing that same piece over and over again each night in the dressing room, before we went onstage together and I played the opening of that same piece while lying on my back downstage left—that I was making a daily recording of “Kaddish” by Lev Kogan as part of a yearlong project examining grief, death, and ritual with my blog-and-podcast partner, an anthropologist named Mira. I must have mentioned one or two of the deaths in my close circle that had led to my interest in the project.

Dana’s story spilled out.

A few years ago, her big sister—her beloved, amazing big sister Margot—died. Murdered. By a boyfriend.

Margot was Dana’s hero, best friend, and biggest supporter, all rolled into one terrific-sounding package. Dana told me about the time that Margot came to one of her performances in running gear—because she’d gone from running a marathon, kept running right into a cab, to an airport, on a flight in her running gear, in another cab, and into Dana’s performance—late and panting—because she was darned if she was going to miss her sister’s show.

It was a privilege to play the last backstage Kaddish for Margot, with Dana nearby, getting ready for our final onstage performance together.

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Your email address will not be published.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
©2023 beitmalkhut.org | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes