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The Kaddish is said standing with your feet together. Before the last paragraph, take three steps back. Now comes the bowing procedure, like this:

Bow slightly to the right and say: Oseh shalom bim-ro-mov

Bow slightly straight ahead and say: Hoo

Bow slightly to the left and say: Ya’aseh shalom aleinu

Bow slightly straight ahead and say: V’al kol yisrael ve-imru amen

(This reflects Chabad practice. Others have different customs.)

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Answering Amen

The Kaddish

Illustrations by Yehuda Lang. To view more artwork by this artist, click here.

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August 14, 2009

Editor's Note:

The instructions above have now been updated to reflect Chabad custom.

Naftali Silberberg, Chabad.org Editorial Team
mychabad.org

January 29, 2009

Amidah vs. Kaddish

While this is how it is done with regards to the Oseh Shalom of the Amidah, not all follow this custom in regards to the Oseh Shalom that is recited after Kaddish. In fact, the Chabad custom (See Sefer Haminhagim -Chabad p.6), is as follows: for the words Oseh… one bows to their OWN right. 'Hoo' - to the middle. 'Ya’aseh… - to their OWN left. 'V’al … to the middle.

As to why the bowing is done differently while reciting Kaddish, I would venture to say that this has to do with the fact that according to some opinions one should not bow at all during the Kaddish. These opinions hold that Kaddish is not on the level of “one standing before the king,”rather, it is on a lower level. Perhaps this is the reason why minhag Chabad is to bow first to one’s own right. Although we do not follow those who hold not to bow at all, we nevertheless still do not consider Kaddish at the same level as the Amidah. Therefore, we bow first to our own right, see the Piskei Teshuvos 56:10 footnote 122.

Yehuda Shurpin
Brooklyn, NY

January 28, 2009

putting on of clothes

as i understand, the right shoe is put on first, then the left....the right arm is put first into the shirt and then the left....why, then, before the last paragraph of kaddish, is the first bow to the left...

September 28, 2008

To Franklin:

If you click the 'view all comments' icon, you will see that your question has already been answered.

george

September 26, 2008

Bowing at the end of Kaddish

Why is the there bowing at the end of the prayer?

Franklin

July 27, 2008

For Rockville

After the three bows, conventional practice is to take three steps forward again.

Tzvi Freeman (author)

July 23, 2008

Bowing during kaddish, amidah

I was always taught 3 steps back, bow left, bow right, then 3 steps forward. But this site says you bow forward as opposed to stepping forward. Which is correct? Or are they both correct?

Anonymous
Rockville, MD

June 20, 2008

Re: Bowing during kaddish

That seems to be conventional practice.

Tzvi Freeman

June 18, 2008

bowing duringkaddish

Three steps are taken back..are three steps taken forward again to the start position?

Sima bat Berel Velvel ha Levie
newyork, new york

March 27, 2008

RE: bowing...

Bowing at the end is a sign of respect. As we step backwards and ‘end our meeting’ so to speak, we bow in acknowledgement.

Why to the left and later the right?

In Judaism we always give precedence to the right side. Since we are addressing G-d, the One whom we are facing, when we bow to our left we are, as it were, bowing to His right. After bowing to His right, we bow to the left – our right.

Alternatively, the verse of Oseh Shalom, which we recite when bowing, discuss G-d creating peace and harmony among the heavens. This means that He creates peace among Michael who served from the right and Gabriel who serves on the left. For this reason we bow to both sides.

Menachem Posner, Chabad.org

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