Hi,
Is it
appropriate to visit a cemetery on Tishah b'Av?
The Talmud
records a practice of visiting cemeteries on public fast days, and it offers
two rationales:
- The visitor says he is "as though he
is dead" in his suffering, and
- The visitor asks those who are buried
there to pray on his behalf.
Commentators
offer a third reason: the visitors are reminded that if they do not repent,
they will meet the fate of those who are already in the cemetery.
Based on
this ancient practice, many Jews visit cemeteries after concluding kinos on
Tishah b'Av. For mystical reasons regarding impurity, some stay at least seven
feet from the graves, or even refrain altogether.
Halachic
authorities warn that people should not go to the cemetery on Tishah b'Av in
groups, lest the visit lose the introspective and mournful character appropriate
for Tishah b'Av.
(Taanit
16a, Tosafot ibid. Yotzin; Beit Yosef Orach Chaim 559:end; Shulchan
Aruch Orach Chaim 559:10, 579:3; Magen Avraham 559:3, 15; Mishneh Berurah 559:12,
41; Aruch haShulchan Orach Chaim 554:18, 559:7; Piskei Teshuvos 559:11)
המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai
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