MINYAN MUSINGS

Herb Keinon’s “Musings on the end of saying kaddish” (July 29) brought back memories when the 11 months were up for saying kaddish for my mother and years later for my father. After kaddish was said for the Mincha service there was this feeling of a void of “What do I do now?”

A subsequent more painful experience occurred when I was in New York City at the beginning of the pandemic and it was the time of my mother’s yahrzeit. After many years of leading the prayers in many circumstances, from being in a choir in the middle of a performnace to being a guest in a wedding, I suddenly found not one minyan functioning in order to say kaddish.

As I said, a most painful experience indeed.

DANIEL FLIEGLER Jerusalem

I was glad to read that my old friend, Herb Keinon, has found some redeeming value in his fellow synagogue worshipers at long last. But there is even more good news, namely that, contrary to what Herb concludes, the opportunities to carry on one’s obligation of honoring parents is ever present, even long after their passing.

Every time I make a donation in my father’s memory to a cause he would have supported, I feel that I am honoring him. The same goes for every time I give a dvar Torah (words of Torah) in his name or every time that I keep his yahrzeit or those of his parents.

These are precisely the types of opportunities that provide the comfort that I’m sure Herb is looking for.

DAVID GILAD Beersheba