Kadish Nagish

In memory of Edi Sterngold

Kadish Nagish is about women saying Kaddish alongside all mourners. In synagogue. With a minyan. During the service.

Find a synagogue near you that has agreed to open its doors:

      What is Kadish Nagish?

      Kaddish Nagish is a Tzohar initiative that enables women to recite the Kaddish in synagogue, from the women's section, alongside all other mourners. The initiative rests on solid halachic ground and preserves a practice that existed in Jewish communities throughout the generations.

      Saying Kaddish is an individual's call to the congregation to sanctify God's name. When the children of the deceased say Kaddish, they act in this world to bring merit to their parent's soul in the next. It is a gesture of love and honor — a moment of meaning and remembrance, a way to do something in the midst of loss. Many women feel this need just as deeply as men do: to stand with their community, to join the mourners, and to say "Yitgadal v'yitkadash" for their mother or their father.

      ערימת ספרים (אייקון)

      Women saying Kaddish is not a new idea, even if it isn't yet widespread practice. It is a custom that existed in Jewish communities across the generations. Leading halachic authorities — including Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin — supported it. Tzohar's position, based on the rulings of these authorities and historical evidence of the practice, is that a woman is not only permitted but encouraged to say Kaddish from the women's section, alongside the other mourners.
      Read the full halachic responsum by Rabbi Shaul Bruchi (in Hebrew).

      אשה קוראת קדיש מתוך סידור

      You don't need to feel like you're doing something unusual. You come to davening - be it Shacharit, Mincha, or Maariv - and say Kaddish from the women's section, just as your brother or father would say it from the men's section. You are part of the Kaddish, reading it alongside other mourners simultaneously.

      אייקון של בית כנסת

      A synagogue that joins the initiative commits to allowing women to recite Kaddish from the women's section during the regular service. The women's section should also be open, lit, and accessible on weekdays. That's it. There is no change to the existing order of prayer.

      Is your synagogue not on the list yet?

      Our father, our husband – Edi, as his friends knew him – was an entrepreneur at heart: a man of action, ideas, and courage. But above everything, family was his center and his foundation.

      He lived by five principles that guided him throughout his life – the five C’s: Curiosity, Care, Commitment, Courage, Creativity.

      He believed in the strength of women and in genuine equality, and saw women as full partners in spiritual life as much as in any other. He lived in many countries, but believed wholeheartedly in the Jewish people and in the Land of Israel as the natural home of our nation – and it is here that he ended his days.

      After he passed, saying Kaddish mattered deeply to all of us – sons, daughters, and our mother – as a way to sanctify his memory. We approached it with respect for halachic boundaries and with the belief that everyone deserves a place to take part.

      For the women in our family, that wasn’t always simple. There were moments when we were told “that’s not the custom here,” or when we were pushed behind a distant mechitza in a way that made real participation feel impossible. In moments as tender as these, those experiences made saying Kaddish complicated – and sometimes got in the way of saying it cleanly, wholeheartedly, and with an open heart.

      Out of that experience, and out of our father’s entrepreneurial spirit, Kaddish Nagish was born. The project exists so that any woman can find a welcoming, respectful, halachically grounded space where she can say Kaddish with a sense of belonging and dignity.

      We – Natalie, Elisha, Ariel, Avital, and our mother Eva – are certain he would have been proud.

      Sign Up to Our Newsletter

      All Rights Reserved © to Tzohar

      |

      |

      All Rights Reserved © to Tzohar

      Scroll to top

      DEDICATION

      Was this donation made in someone’s honor or memory? We’ll be happy to send a dedication letter with a personalized message to the recipient of your choice.
      An example of the content of the message to be sent:
      MEALuim Logo Tzohar Logo

      IN YOUR HONOR,

      a gift has been made to MEALuim from

      This gift

      • Sends a delicious meal to an IDF reserve family.
      • Relieves the parent of thinking about one week night dinner.
      • Distracts the children, even for a few hours, from another night worrying about their parent on the battlefield.

      Perhaps more importantly,

      This gift

      • Sends Israeli Jews a reminder Jews worldwide care about them.
      • Tells soldiers that they can stay focused on the battlefield because we have their backs.
      • Tells miluim families that we remember for them it is still painful and scary.
      • Says כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה.

      To learn more about MEALuim, please visit https://tzohar-eng.org/mealuim/