Q&A: Visiting the Graves of the Righteous After the Resurrection of the Dead
Visiting the Graves of the Righteous After the Resurrection of the Dead
Question
After the resurrection of the dead, will there still be some unique spiritual significance to coming to the graves of the righteous, like the broken tablets, even though the grave is empty and the deceased righteous person has arisen from the dust?
I hope you won’t send me to ask the Master of the Universe, but will answer based on reasoning or on evidence and analogy from one matter to another.
Answer
Precisely that is what I will do—I’ll refer you to Him. I’m sure He has excellent reasoning on the matter. At the margins of my remarks, I’ll just note that even before the resurrection of the dead, I don’t see much value in visiting graves.
Discussion on Answer
First, I think there is something real in the basic intuitions of Kabbalah. In all the surrounding details, it’s really not necessary that there be anything real.
Beyond that, when I understand his intuition after he has conceived it, then I’ll accept it. But I don’t accept things just because someone said them, even if he has good spiritual intuition.
I heard that the Satmar Rebbe once went with his Hasidim to prostrate themselves at the graves of the righteous, and one of the Hasidim said: “Rebbe, what will be after the resurrection of the dead? All the righteous will rise, and we won’t have anywhere to pray!”
The Rebbe replied: “Don’t worry, there will be plenty of righteous people who won’t rise…”
🙂
I once brought the saying of my late grandfather about some Hasidic rebbe who loved the Jewish people with a fierce love—only with the individual people he had a bit of a problem.
What today is called loving humanity and hating people.
The Rabbi always writes that in Kabbalah there are spiritual intuitions. What about what the Arizal wrote—that when one visits the graves of the righteous, the soul of the righteous person becomes impregnated into your soul? (I haven’t the faintest idea what that means, but there’s apparently such an idea.)