[Avodah] To Whom Should One Pray At A Tzaddik's Kever?

Professor L. Levine llevine at stevens.edu
Mon Aug 13 07:44:14 PDT 2018


The following is from the column  Halachic Corner With Rav Hershel Schachter that appeared on page 23 of the 8/10/18 issue of the Jewish Press


We consider kiverei tzaddikim holy locations, so we pray to Hakadosh Baruch - not to the tzaddikim -that in the zechus of these tzaddikim He should be kind to us.

The Gemara says you're not allowed to daven within daled amos of a  kever because it's lo'eg larash [mocking the deceased] since the meis is not able to daven. So you
have to move away. Many people pray right next to the grave in the middle of
the whole cemetery. That, the Gemara says, is not proper. You should daven
from a distance.

Supposing one goes to Meron: If one is so inclined,is one allowed to ask a berachah directly from Rav Shimon bar Yochai?

No, he's not alive. How can he give a berachah? You ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He should answer our prayers b'zechus the tanna who's buried here ....

We assume a makom menuchas ha'tzaddikim is a holier site, so it's like davening near a holy place. But you daven to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Torah has a prohibition
not to be doreish al hameisim. You're not allowed to pray to the dead.

Rav Hershel Schachter is a widely-respected posek and rash yeshiva and rash kollel at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Am I mistaken or don't some of the suggestions and advice in the video at the URL below contradict what Rav Schacter has written?  Ask for a Bernbach? Ask for advice?

https://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=32181&alias=guide-to-visiting-the-ohel


<https://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=32181&alias=guide-to-visiting-the-ohel>
Guide to Visiting The Ohel - collive.com<https://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=32181&alias=guide-to-visiting-the-ohel>
www.collive.com
A new step-by-step guide explains the customs followed when visiting the Ohel gravesite of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Cambria Heights, Queens.








-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20180813/e79bddbd/attachment.html>


More information about the Avodah mailing list