[Avodah] Kivrey Avos

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 08:04:33PM +0300, Eliyahu Grossman wrote:
: Does the bones of Jewish "Saints" (using the Christian term intentionally)
: make the place more holy than a vineyard? It depends what one believes, I
: suppose - life or death as sanctification.

The SA (YD 367:3) says one shouldn't daven at a qever, because
of lo'eig larash. The Shakh commends there that the Maharshal (and from
hi, the Derishah) and the Bach similarly pasqen that when saying Qaddish,
one should be 4 amos away from the qever.

Still, it's Chazal (Sotah 34b) -- not some late acharon -- who praise
Kaleiv for going to Me'aras haMachapeilah, and Chazal who imply this
was part of his rebellion from the wrong plan of the meraglim.

Rashi (Bereishis 48:7) says that Yaaqov tells Yoseif that Rachel was
buried where she was so that the Jews can daven at her qever on their
way into galus Bavel. (Invoking Yirmiyahu 31, but that pasuq only speaks
of her davening for us, not that we came to Rachel first.) According to
the Sefer haYashar (p' VaYeishev) Yoseif stops at Qever Racheil on his
way down to Mitzrayim.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When faced with a decision ask yourself,
micha at aishdas.org        "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
http://www.aishdas.org   at the closing moments of Yom Kippur?"
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter