[Avodah] Leading the Maariv Service Motzoei Shabbos

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from Mourning in Halacha by 
Rabbi Chaim Binyamin Goldberg, pages 409 - 410. 
Note the reason given as to why R. Shmuel Salant 
was opposed to someone who has yahrtzeit during 
the week davening Maariv for the Amud on Motzoei Shabbos.

Leading the Maariv Service

The custom is to lead the prayer-service for Maariv at the conclusion of the
Sabbath before the yahrzeit. 6

6. Gesher HaChaim (Joe. cit.). In his note 6 ad. 
Joe., he writes: "We have heard an explanation from
the rav R' Baruch Zeldovitch, zatzal, as to why 
one leads the services at the conclusion of the
Sabbath before the yahrzeit: [On the Sabbath, a 
person receives an extra soul, the neshamah
yeseirah .] At the conclusion of every Sabbath, 
the neshamah yeseirah departs from him, with the
intention of returning on the following Sabbath. 
At the conclusion of the final Sabbath of a person's life,
it leaves him, without intending to return. Thus, 
at the conclusion of the Sabbath before a person dies,
it is like the death of his neshamah yeseirah. 
Therefore, that Sabbath's conclusion is also like a
yahrzeit ."

Chazon LaMo'ed, in his notes at the end of his 
book, raises an objection to this line of reasoning: It
applies only if the person died on a weekday, but 
not if he died on the Sabbath.
Ner Eliyahu (Minhagei Yom HaZikaron § 17) writes: 
"However, in the holy city of Jerusalem, may it
be rebuilt and established, many follow the 
custom of the gaon R' Shmuel Salant, zatzal. He opposed
letting the sons lead the Maariv services at the 
conclusion of the Sabbath before the yahrzeit. The
reason one generally leads the services at the 
Sabbath's conclusion is because that is the time when the
wicked return to Gehinnom. By leading the 
services [at the Sabbath's conclusion], one gives the
impression of considering one's parents wicked. 
Thus, one should not lead the services then, just as one
does not lead the services after the first eleven months"


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