By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — In this week’s Torah portion, from Maimonides, we will be viewing some of his ideas on the custom of visiting graves.
Maimonides wrote concerning Genesis 23:19:
After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. — We dig burial caves in the earth and hollow out cavities from the sides of the caves. When burying a corpse, we place it with its face positioned upward; earth and stones are then added in the place above it. A corpse may be buried in a wooden coffin. Those who accompany the corpse tell him: “Go in peace,” as it states, וְאַתָּה תָּבוֹא אֶל־אֲבֹתֶיךָ בְּשָׁלוֹם תִּקָּבֵר בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה “As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age” (Gen. 15:15). Likewise, markings are made on the graves and a tombstone is placed above it. However, for the just do not require a tombstone for their words will preserve their memory. This being said, it is better not to visit graves at the cemeteries.[1]
From this passage, it is clear that Maimonides held that one should not venerate saintly people who passed and felt that this rule also applied to worship at their tombs or shrines. To symbolize that their Rebbe is praying among them, one might wonder what Maimonides would have said about the Bratzalav and Lubavitcher custom of taking out the Rebbe’s chair whenever conducting a service. There can be little doubt that he would have frowned on this practice, perhaps even likening it to idolatry.
Maimonides may have felt that various biblical antecedents supported his position. For example, Moses’ burial ground remains a mystery (Deut. 18:11). Rabbinic and non-rabbinic commentaries suggest that Moses did not want his grave to become a sacred shrine. Besides, there are several biblical proscriptions against necromancy and contacting the spirit world are also no less prohibited, much less asking them to intercede on behalf of the living. The rabbis believed that a person’s greatest monument was his or her teachings, moreso than any headstone.
Such practices resemble the ancestral worship cults that ancient peoples have observed for centuries, if not millennia.[2]Yet, Maimonides’ opinion clearly contradicts the Talmudic view that asserts how Caleb went to the grave of the Patriarchs and asked them to help assist him so the other spies (BT Sotah 34b) would not mislead him. Moreover, in the Talmudic imagination, if a just man stood higher than the angels, then his intercessory prayers were certainly no less effective.[3] Throughout the medieval era, the burial place of Hebron attracted Christian, Jewish, and Muslim pilgrims who believed the patriarchs’ prayers could influence God. This practice continues today among the Hassidic sects, who ask the deceased souls of the righteous pray on behalf of oneself or family.
Maimonides refers to this problem elsewhere in his Mishnaic commentary to Sanhedrin in Chapter 10. Asking celestial and angelic beings to intercede on behalf of one is considered idolatrous. This also applies to anyone who prays to a star or an astrological sign so that it will function as an intermediary between the worshipper and God.[4] Nevertheless, ample liturgical texts dating from the Talmudic and medieval era found in the Geniza indicates that many people saw nothing wrong with asking angelic beings and souls to intercede on behalf of mortals. Some of the oldest Jewish communities of the ancient world from Babylonia often composed hymns, which they would sing along their pilgrimage to Ezekiel’s shrine.[5] Ironically, Maimonides’ tomb in Tiberias used to be a preferred place for people to offer up their prayers. [6]
23:20. The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying place. — The Sefer Ḥaredim of R. Eleazar Askari of Safed contains the following statement of Maimonides: “On Sabbath evening, the 4th of Iyyar, 4925 (1165), I went on board; on the following Sabbath the waves threatened to destroy our lives.… On the 3rd of Sivan, I arrived safely at Acco, and was thus rescued from apostasy.… On Tuesday, the 4th of Marcheshvan, 4926, I left Acco, arrived at Jerusalem after a journey beset with difficulties and with dangers, and prayed on the spot of the great and holy house on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of Marcheshvan. On Sunday, the 9th of that month, I left Jerusalem and visited the cave of Machpelah, in Hebron.” (Cited by M. Friedländer, Guide, op. cit., p. xviii).
Philo
And from this week’s selection, Philo of Alexandria deals with his thoughts on the afterlife:
25:8. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age… — The verse intimates that the death of Abraham’s body did not necessarily mark the death of his soul. In reality, it is just the opposite. Abraham’s soul continues to live an incorporeal life all of its own. In this respect, the philosopher Heraclitus appears to have appropriated Moses’ opinion when he said, “Gods are mortal, humans immortal, living their death, dying their life.”[7]
Note: Philo is quoting Heraclitus’ cryptic koan-like statement, which is better translated, “Immortals are mortal, mortals immortal, living the others’ death, dead in the others’ life.”[8] Heraclitus is noted for his enigmatic style, but Philo understands this to say the death of the body does not entail the death of the soul. The Talmud expresses an identical thought: “The wicked are considered dead, even while they are alive. But the righteous—are considered alive even in death” (BT Shabbat 152b).
… an old man and full of years… — Fullness of years metaphorically indicates that Abraham’s days were densely and spiritually full. God did not allow this virtuous man to let a single day to pass without practicing virtue. For this reason, Abraham had no room in his life for an evil thought, word, or deed. Abraham did not waste a single day; he subjected everything to the scrutiny of God’s Divine light.
The Zohar expresses a similar thought: “Woe unto a man who decreased his days above. When he should be clothed in his days, those days that he corrupted with his sins are missing from that garment and he wears a deficient garment. It is all the more so if many are the days that were corrupted and man had nothing with which to clothe in that world…. Of Abraham, who was rewarded, it is written, ‘Coming in days’ [advanced in age]. Hence, when he departed from this world, he entered and clothed by these very days of his. He did not subtract anything of that garment of honor because it is written, ‘Coming in days’ (Gen. 24:1).”[9]
… and was gathered to his people. — Abraham did not have a “people” to be “gathered unto,” because he was the first member of his race! The Scriptures figuratively speak of Abraham being “gathered unto his people,” as though this spiritual commonwealth has already been in existence. Indeed, this is so because of his godlike virtues.[10]
The Scriptures express a metaphorical way of saying that Abraham attained immortality, having become equal to the angels…. Moses calls those individuals who have forsaken human instruction, “his people” because they are true disciples of God. They have at a comprehension of knowledge acquired without labor, have passed over to the immortal and most perfect race of beings, and have so received an inheritance better than the former generations of created men….[11]
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NOTES
[1] MT Hilkhot Avel 4:4.
[2] In ancient Egypt, for example, people often make continuous efforts to placate the dead by offering worship and offerings. Many believed the living could interact with the dead in a plethora of ways. They would make graven images of loved ones, eating a meal at the grave, and so on. It was believed that the souls of the dead could intercede on behalf of the living. Similar practices existed in ancient India, China, and many other parts of the world. See Nicola Harrington, Living with the Dead: Ancestor Worship and Mortuary Ritual in Ancient Egypt (Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books, 2013).
[3] Cf. “The righteous decrees and God fulfills” (BT Mo’ed Katan 16b; Zohar 2:15a). Cf. BT Sanhedrin 65b and 93a. Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Judah HaNasi used to say: “Make His Will your own will, that He make your will as His Will” (Avoth 2:4).
[4] Mishnah Commentary, Sanhedrin, ch. 10; MT Hilkhot Teshuva 3:7.
[5] Josef W. Meri, The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 65-66.
[6] Josef W. Meri, op cit., p. 65.
[7] Philo Questions on Genesis (QG) 4:152.
[8] Charles H. Kahn. The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 71. This is generally labeled as Fragment 62, but some collections assign different numbers to it.
[9] Rabbi Michael Laitman, Unlocking the Zohar (Brooklyn, NY: Kabbalah Publishers, 2011), p. 193 based upon Rabbi Yehuhah Ashlag’s Sulam Commentary on the Zohar.
[10] QG 4:153.
[11] Philo, Sacrifices 2.
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Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista and the author of separate sets of books on Philo and Maimonides.