[Avodah] praying to tzadikkim

[Zev Sero]

Rich, Joel wrote:

> Now it raises the question to me - do meitim have bchira? It seems yes
> but how given they now have "the ultimate Knowledge"  so perhaps there
> is no one correct answer to what one should be doing every moment?

Their bechira is not over actions - after all, they're incapable of
acting.  But they still have bechira over whether to pray for someone
or not.


> In addition, if meitim yodim, then why would we have to pray for their
> intercession, wouldn't they do it for us automatically?

The Zohar strongly implies that they don't know what's happening in
the world without being told.  AIUI they generally just aren't interested
in the events of this world, so they don't follow the news, but going to
their graves and speaking to them draws their attention, so they hear
what they're told and are able to act on it.

There's a rather scary story I read a few years ago, I can't remember
where, but it was a reliable source.  A daughter of the second Chabad
rebbe, R DovBer (aka the "Middle Rebbe") was married to R Aharon
Cherkasser, a grandson of R Nochum Chernobyler.  R Aharon's brother
died very young, and shortly afterwards he died too.  Some time later
he appeared to his mechutenesteh (R Aharon's mother) in a dream, and
said "My daughter just came and told me the news.  Why didn't you tell
me when your first son died?  Maybe I could have done something."

OTOH, the Zohar (quoted and explained at length in Tanya, Igeret
Hakodesh 27) also says that "a tzadik who dies is found in all the
worlds more than when he was alive", i.e. that so long as he still
has people who call on him he pays enough attention to this world
to hear and respond to them, and can do so with greater ease since
he's no longer constrained by the limits of a physical body.  I'm
not sure how to reconcile this with the story I just quoted.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas