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

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 06:10:22PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
: If one views him as not a baal bechira but a mere merkava to Hashem
: then it makes no sense to ask him for anything.  Speak to the
: driver, not to the car.  But if one views him as completely batel to
: Hashem, not like a car but like a telephone, or like a robot that
: serves as its Maker's eyes and ears, then it becomes OK to treat him
: like the One with Whom he so completely identifies, to bow down to
: him, pray to him, and ask for his supernatural help, because one is
: not really speaking to him at all but to Him. Thus Hashem called
: Yaacov Avinu with His own name, and thus the Zohar says "Who is 'the
: face of the L-rd G-d'? This is Rashbi".

I would distinguish between:

1- Who gets reflected kavod. We could in theory be asked to show kavod for
the Torah the person contains, whether as ideas of talmud Torah or as
middos and life lived.

2- Who we ask for tefillos or berakhos from.

3- Who we ask to invervene supernaturally, causing things directly.

The quote from the Zohar doesn't necessarily imply the third or this
whole robot thing. For that matter, since even Moshe sinned (and the
four who didn't sin didn't reach Moshe Rabbeinu's godliness in other
ways), what rabbinical robots have there ever been? I would think,
as you implied elsewhere, that the Tanya's "tzadiq" was meant as an
archetype to strive for. But if this is your standard, an archetype
noone has ever and can ever fully embody.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The meaning of life is to find your gift.
micha at aishdas.org        The purpose of life
http://www.aishdas.org   is to give it away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Pablo Picasso