Kahlon’s Emotional Speech: "After Reciting Kaddish for My Mother, I’m Sure She Felt Better in Heaven"

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon attended a special Selichot gathering in Herzliya this week, where he delivered a moving speech about the importance of reciting Kaddish for the deceased. The emotional minister referred to his mother, who passed away last year, and urged attendees to remember this evening when he said, "I tell you, anyone who has lost someone should be meticulous about reciting Kaddish," he said.

Kahlon repeated his message several times, and to emphasize his point, he shared that due to a tight schedule and a visit to Washington to meet with US Secretary of State Jason Greenblatt, there were four days when he didn’t manage to say Kaddish for his mother.

When he finally managed to do so at one of the Moroccan synagogues, it felt different to him. "Those four days when I couldn’t say it were very difficult. Days when I really felt something was wrong, and only after I recited it, I believe the rabbi will agree with me, my mother felt much, much better up above. I saw it very clearly. I saw it with my own eyes, and let no one tell you stories - there is great merit elevating the soul with Kaddish, and for the repose of the deceased. Keep this in mind. May you not need it nor require it with Hashem’s help - but if, God forbid, you do need it - then be diligent about it. If the deceased is important to you - then make sure you are diligent about it."

“Who among us doesn’t look forward to these days of Selichot and holidays”

The minister also shared about the unique connection he had with his mother, of blessed memory, and the challenge of coping with the first year without her. "We miss her very much, but that's the way of the world. It's a bit difficult because it's the first year without her, but we will have to continue at least to remember her."

Kahlon also mentioned the connection of the Tripolitan community to Jewish tradition - especially during the month of Elul. "Who among us doesn’t look forward to these days of Selichot and holidays," said Kahlon as he likened this period to a corridor leading into the festive atmosphere of the holidays, through Selichot, melodies, and the liturgical poems of his father’s house. "My mother didn't know how to read or write, but she understood exactly what it was about. I can now go one by one and give you a polygraph, and everyone says, 'Too bad his mother isn't here.' How important were the poems and 'Et Sha'arei Ratzon' to our mothers. In all the poems, my mother knew exactly what it was about and didn’t need to read. Our mothers are special women, righteous women, who truly always pushed us 'go to synagogue,' and always made sure we stayed on the right path.

"They guided us correctly, and she didn’t need to be a professor to tell the finance minister what to do. Believe me, her advice is better than many others who have studied a lot. Her wisdom is far greater, her sincerity far greater, her integrity far greater, and we didn’t need anyone’s - not advice, not ideas, not guidance. We had our parents who really set us on the right track and said to us 'go.'"