He's just proved they can trust him not to call for an exorcism or anything along those lines.
He's actually asked to perform the exorcism, because he's the only person present who even knows what the dybbuk is: that's when he answers that he can't.
He can't say Kaddish for Hana, because that's not something an individual can do. You need a minyan, you need a community, and there isn't one.
I do not want to argue the halakhah: it is not my experience that Kaddish cannot be said without a minyan. At my grandfather's unveiling, for example, we were five family members (three Jewish) plus a rabbi and we said the mourner's Kaddish. If the tradition was stricter in Szymon's time and community, however, I can see that he might view it differently.
I agree either way that nothing needs to be done about him. He witnessed the original events; he is still alive in this town. If he were a danger to the collective memory, they'd have gotten rid of him long ago.
Time kills memory, time is killing him.
Yes. [edit] Żaneta will remember: all transmission is not lost. But she will be haunted, too; that's part of what her husband's jacket means. I don't think the two can be separated in this film.
no subject
He's actually asked to perform the exorcism, because he's the only person present who even knows what the dybbuk is: that's when he answers that he can't.
He can't say Kaddish for Hana, because that's not something an individual can do. You need a minyan, you need a community, and there isn't one.
I do not want to argue the halakhah: it is not my experience that Kaddish cannot be said without a minyan. At my grandfather's unveiling, for example, we were five family members (three Jewish) plus a rabbi and we said the mourner's Kaddish. If the tradition was stricter in Szymon's time and community, however, I can see that he might view it differently.
I agree either way that nothing needs to be done about him. He witnessed the original events; he is still alive in this town. If he were a danger to the collective memory, they'd have gotten rid of him long ago.
Time kills memory, time is killing him.
Yes. [edit] Żaneta will remember: all transmission is not lost. But she will be haunted, too; that's part of what her husband's jacket means. I don't think the two can be separated in this film.