Nedarim 76a - Kaddish prior to burial

R' Menachem Kagan referred me to a teshuva in the Igros Moshe (y.d. 163:3) where he discusses a point of argument between the shach and taz whether an onen who lost a parent right before shabbos (since aninus is suspended for shabbos) and has not yet had time to do the burial, should say kaddish over shabbos. The Taz thinks kaddish should be said, but the shach argues since the kaddish is to alleviate the din of gehenim which does not begin until kevura. R' Moshe sides with the Taz based on an argument he formulates from this gemara. The gemara says that a girl sold as a jewish slave is freed by reaching physical maturity (na'arus), certainly the father looses rights to sell her at that age. Similarly, if kaddish can help the niftar once they have entered gehenim, it can certainly be effective to provide zechuyos to prevent gehenim. However, R' Moshe qualifies this by saying that the kal v'chomer only addresses the fact that kaddish will work as a zechus even before kevurah, but it does not create a requirement because regarding the requirement it is more logical to assume that the requirement begins only after the din becomes severe and not beforehand. Based on this, the son is entitled to say kaddish prior to the kevura, but is not obligated to do so.

The difficulty with R' Moshe's kal v'chomer is that based on this a son should even say kaddish when the father is still alive, which is obviously not done? But in truth, R' Moshe realizes that saying kaddish is associated with one's parent being dead, that is why the Rama (o.c. 132) rules that a child must ask permission from his parent if he would like to say kaddish while they are alive. So it would be inappropriate for a child to say kaddish for a live parent. However, once the parent has been deceased and kaddish is an option, R' moshe, based on the kal v'chomer argues that it would accomplish its goal in providing zechus to the neshama.

May the zechus of this d'var Torah serve as an aliyas neshama for those who tragically lost their life permaturely in the confines of a Yeshiva and serve as a zechus for a refuah sheleima for those who have been injured.