QADDĪŠ. - Jewish liturgical prayer in the Aramaic language. "Sanctification" of the Name of God, whose essential passage ("May His Holy Name be blessed for all ages") draws its origins from Dan. 2:20 and Ps. 113:2. The first to mention this important eulogy was Jōsē ben Ḥalaphtā' (ca. 150 A.D.). The q. was originally recited, with regard to its messianic content, at the end of the haggadic readings (v. HAGGĀDHĀH). It invokes the sanctification of the Name and the coming of the Kingdom. The connection with Ez. 36-38 (in particular with 38:23) is evident. Its affinity with the Pater noster (Mt. 6:9-10) has often been noted.
The q. was composed in Palestine and had great diffusion among the Babylonian Jews. During the 6th century A.D. (tractate Sōphērīm), the q. already appears as a liturgical text and was originally recited after the pericope of the Pentateuch and, in time, at the end of the entire public prayer, but also at the end of its individual parts. Later, persons in mourning for the death of a relative began to recite the q. The important "cycle" of prayers Mahzōr Vitry does not know at all the use of having orphans recite the q. in the year of mourning. It is only Jishāq ('Or zārāa') ben Mōšeh of Vienna who speaks (1220) of such a use that arose in Bohemia. The dominant note of the q. is the coming of the Kingdom "in the life of our community" and - as is evident from fragments found in the gēnlzāh of Cairo - "during the life of our exilarch N.N." The Jewish communities of Yemen inserted the name of Maimonides (v.).
Bibliography3 works
Eugenio Zolli