Saying Kaddish for Newtown

There have been at least 62 mass shootings in America in the last 30 years; 247,131 fatal shootings in 8 years.

For the past several days, the Kaddish that Conservative Jews traditionally say on Yom Hashoah and Yom Kippur, from the machzor Sim Shalom, has been echoing around my brain. Here, a transliterated interpretation based on that Kaddish seeks to remember 17 of those mass murders.

The sh’loshim for Newtown, Connecticut, was yesterday, January 17.

Yit-gadal Watkins Glen

v’yit-kadash Edmond

sh’may raba Binghamton

b’alma dee-v’ra che-ru-tay Garden City

ve’yam-lich mal-chutay Jonesboro

b’chai-yay-chon uv’yo-may-chon Manchester

uv-cha-yay d’chol beit Yisrael, Columbine

ba-agala u’vitze-man ka-riv, Oak Creek

ve’imru amen.

Y’hay sh’may raba me’varach le-alam uleh-almay alma-ya.

Yit-barach v’yish-tabach, Lancaster

v’yit-pa-ar v’yit-romam Salt Lake City

v’yit-nasay, v’yit-hadar Virginia Tech

v’yit-aleh v’yit-halal Fort Hood

sh’may d’koo-d’shah, Tucson

b’rich hoo. layla Oakland

meen kol beer-chata v’she-rata, Aurora

toosh-b’chata v’nay-ch’mata, Clackamas

da-a meran b’alma, Newtown

ve’imru amen.

Y’hay sh’lama raba meen sh’maya v’cha-yim aleynu v’al kol Yisrael, ve’imru amen.

O’seh shalom beem-romav, hoo ya’ah-seh shalom aleynu v’al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvay tevel, ve’imru amen.