("sanctification"). Hebrew term applied to various components of the liturgy (see Kaddish and Kiddush). Liturgically, Kedushah denotes three forms of doxology quoting expressions of praise for God in the visions of Isaiah (6:3) and Ezekiel (3:12). Their underlying significance is that the angelic chorus on high is echoed on earth by the congregation of Israel hallowing God's Name. One version, the Kedsushah de-Amidah (Kedushah of the Amidah, i.e., standing prayer), is chanted responsively whenever the Amidah blessings are repeated with a prayer quorum (Minyan). A second version, the Kedushah di-Yeshivah ("sitting Kedushah") or Kedushah de-Yotser, forms part of the Yotserot section of the Morning Service. The third version, the Kedushah de-Sidra (Kedushah recited at the end of study), occurs in the prayer entitled U-Va le-Tsiyyon Go'el ("May a redeemer come to Zion"), which is recited at the end of the weekday Morning Service and at the commencement of the Sabbath Afternoon Service. All three forms are ancient, the first and second having traditionally been composed by the Men of the Great Assembly (Ber. 33a). The third enables those coming late, and who missed the reciting of Kedushah twice in the morning, to say it in an undertone at the end of the service.
The Kedushah de-Amidah is recited while standing, as part of the third benediction, during the reader's repetition of the Amidah. Originally, this Kedushah was only included in the Erets Israel (Palestinian) rite on Sabbaths and festivals; from about the eighth century, however, the influence of Babylonian practice led to its incorporation in the daily synagogue prayers. By geonic times, different liturgical rites based either on the Palestinian or the Babylonian tradition had emerged, and these shaped the various forms of Kedushah in use today.
The most frequent and shortest of these, recited (inter alia) at Morning and Afternoon Services on weekdays and at the Afternoon Service on Sabbaths and festivals, commences with Nekaddesh et Shimkha ba-olam ("We will sanctify Your Name on earth") in the Ashkenazi rite and concludes with Le-dor va-dor ("Unto all generations ..."), the standard ending. On Sabbath and festival mornings, this is expanded to include a plea for the Temple's restoration. In the Sephardi-Oriental rites, however, one form only is recited on these occasions, introduced by Nakdishakh ve-na'aritsakh ("We will sanctify and revere You"). The Additional Service Kedushah for Sabbaths and festivals, which is the lengthiest form recited, is known as Kedushah Rabbah ("the Great Sanctification"). It incorporates the first and last phrases of the Shema ("Hear, O Israel ... I am the Lord your God"). Owing to religious persecution under the Byzantine Christians (or the Persian Zoroastrians), Jews were forbidden to proclaim the monotheistic Shema in synagogue; to outwit government watchdogs, the rabbis decreed that it be recited in an abbreviated form (as part of the Additional Service Kedushah) after the agents had left, and this temporary measure became a widely observed practice. A later ruling by Maimonides, which canceled this insertion of the Shema, affected only the Persian and Yemenite rituals. In both Ashkenazi and Sephardi congregations, the reader and worshipers sometimes recite the Amidah together until the end of Kedushah, after which the remainder is concluded in silent prayer without the usual repetition. Reform Jews recite abbreviated versions of the text. On the High Holidays, modifications are introduced in the Additional Service Kedushah through an overlapping piyyut (liturgical poem) at the beginning; on the Day of Atonement, the longer Additional Service version is also recited during morning and afternoon prayers. In all rites, Kedushah is chanted to special prayer modes on Sabbaths and festivals (particularly the High Holidays).
