Q&A: Graves
Graves
Question
According to those who say there is some value in going up to the graves of righteous people to pray, etc., do you think there would also be value in going up to the graves of non-Jews who were moral, humane, wise people, etc.?
Practically speaking: is it permitted to go to the grave of a non-Jew just out of curiosity? For example, I really love Michael Jackson’s songs — is it permitted for me to go to his grave just to see it, out of curiosity, etc.?
Answer
That you need to ask them.
Of course, if it helps you become a better person, then it would be worthwhile even to visit the graves of the frogs that gave their lives in Egypt. By the way, if you find the grave of the great frog from whose belly all the others came out, then on that occasion write on its tombstone, “A joyful mother of children” (see Gittin 57b). 🙂
Practically speaking, you can go to the graves of frogs, of Tutankhamun, or of wicked or moral people, as you wish. What does that have to do with Jewish law? Does anyone prohibit visiting a grave? Has it not already been said, “There is cattle in the grave” (see Ketubot 38b). 🙂
Discussion on Answer
And Maimonides ruled likewise, that one may go to the graves of non-Jews, because in his view one should not ask the dead to request mercy on our behalf, since the dead are already dead — so how could we ask them?
Talmud, Taanit:
Why do people go out to the cemetery? Rabbi Levi bar Hama and Rabbi Hanina disagreed about it. One said: We are considered before You like the dead. And one said: So that the dead should ask for mercy on our behalf. What practical difference is there between them? The graves of idolaters.