[Avodah] The Singular Way Of Saying Kaddish

[Zev Sero]

On 7/04/2011 1:05 PM, Mandel, Seth wrote:
> Please do not say "hundreds of years."  This is a (mistaken) custom that
> is less than 200 years old.

Really?  Less than 200 years?  When is it first mentioned?


>  The Mishna Brurah does not mention it

And yet by his time it was certainly in practise.


> In many shuls, no one can halakhically say kaddish, which requires
> 9 people listening

Mino hani mili?  Where is such a requirement written?  I know that kaddish
requires the presence of a minyan, but I have not yet seen it written
anywhere (well, except in the previous email) that one needs even one
listener, let alone nine.  Chazoras Hashatz requires nine answerers, or
else the chazzan's brochos are "korov lihyos levatoloh", i.e. not really
levatoloh but only close to being so.  But since when does that apply to
kaddish?

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher