Sanhedrin

Shekalim

Avelut

Ma’aseh Rav

Nefesh Harav

Ish Hahalacha

Melamed Leho’il

Sota

Ta’anit

lo’eg larash

Brachot

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Ta’anit

Shulhan Aruch

Magen Avraham

Drashot Haran

Ktav Sofer

Sefer Hassidim

Bach

Ta’anit

Hochmat Adam

The writer, on-line editor of

and its blog, Text & Texture (text.rcarabbis.org), teaches at Yeshivat Hakotel.

Submit questions to: JPostRabbi@yahoo.com

The phenomenon of Jews praying in cemeteries has existed since antiquity, and while its propriety was the subject of historical debate, today one finds it commonplace in most communities. Nonetheless, the contrasting justifications for this ritual gave it various meanings and limitations.The Torah definitively discourages Jews from attempting to contact the next world. It forbids “seeking out the dead,” prohibiting sorcery and other “abominable” attempts to access other-worldly spirits (Deuteronomy 18:11). The sages, however, narrowly interpreted this proscription to a form of necromancy or divination, in which one starves himself, enters a cemetery to undergo an “impure spirit” and attempts to gain some form of knowledge (56b).Tellingly, the Torah records that the burial place of Moses remains unknown, a verse unfortunately ignored by some unscrupulous tour guides (Deut. 34:6). Many midrashim asserted that God did not want his burial spot to become, for Jews and non-Jews, a place of worship (Midrash Lekah Tov).Along these lines, Rabban Shimon bar Gamliel deemed tombstones at the grave sites of scholars as unnecessary, contending instead, “Their teachings serve as their remembrance” (Yerushalmi2:5). Maimonides codified this opinion into law, further adding, “One should not visit graves” (4:4).In modern times, this sentiment was supported by the Vilna Gaon (), Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer and Rabbi Haim Soloveitchik (, p. 254). They opposed graveside visits, even on memorial days (yahrzeit), since it might lead to inappropriate worship and more fundamentally, because cemeteries engender and signify impurity (36-40). Others, like Rabbi David Hoffman, expressed concern that tombstones and memorials will waste money better spent elsewhere, including charity in the memory of the beloved (2:139). Indeed, many communities historically felt that to prevent inappropriate behavior, simple stone markers sufficiently delineated burial spots (Shut Radbaz 4:243).As Dr. Yehezkel Lichtenstein has documented, a more dominating strand in law and Jewish thought permitted, and at times thoroughly encouraged, prayers in cemeteries. The Talmud tells several stories of ad hoc prayers by various sages at grave sites, and further asserted that Caleb (Numbers 13) prayed at the Tomb of the Patriarchs to aid him from falling under evil counsel (34b).In talmudic times, the most prevalent scenario for communal cemetery visits came in times of distress, such as droughts (16a). The rabbis debated the purpose of these communal gatherings, which initially developed as folk customs with no earlier textual support (Ritva). One sage suggested that it symbolically represented to God, “We are as the dead before You,” and as such did not preclude its performance at non-Jewish cemeteries. Others understood this more radically as a request for the deceased to intercede for mercy on their behalf. These sentiments echo other talmudic sources which speak of the deceased maintaining a living presence in the world, to the point that ritual behavior was typically forbidden cemeteries as it insulted the deceased () who could not perform mitzvot (18a).This latter interpretation raised controversial questions of intercessory prayer in which the deceased or angels are requested to beseech God. Maimonides deemed such prayer heretical in the fifth of his 13 dogmas of Judaism, and not surprisingly adopted the first explanation of the ritual (4:17), a position which was codified in the(OC 579:3) Nonetheless, these rituals remained exclusively at Jewish grave sites (579:11), with various understandings of cemetery prayers proposed. Some promoted cemeteries as places with greater spiritual presence (No. 8), while others innocuously stressed the importance of cemetery visits to recall the merits of the righteous and one’s beloved (YD 178).Many, however, advocated this ritual as an opportunity for intercessory prayer, with some further noting that the living reciprocated the favor by praying for the elevation of the departed’s soul (710). The Zohar extolled Jews who come to cemeteries in remorse and repentance, thereby making their request worthy of additional support. Indeed, cemetery visits became particularly prominent on fast days, times of mourning, and during the Days of Awe.Despite the widespread allowance for cemetery visits (YD 170), many were worried by its excesses. In one extreme 16th-centurycase, Rabbi David ibn Zimra chastised worshipers who opened graves (!)so that they could communicate directly with the dead (Radbaz4:4). In the 19th century, Rabbi Abraham Danzig warned people against praying to the dead and leaving God out entirely (89:7).Given the excesses of cemetery supplications and the theologicalconcerns raised by intercessory prayers, I strongly recommend shunningprayers directed toward the deceased. Instead, use the occasion tothink about the mortality of life, the heritage of the deceased and topray to God that He help us create our own righteous legacy.Tradition