QUESTION:
QUESTION 1- Shalom, in honor of the Rav, who gives of his soul and time to bring the Jewish people to the revelation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu within our hearts. I want to ask a question which has been on my heart for a long time, which I do not know the answer for: How important is it in our current times - where we are momentarily before Mashiach’s arrival – to go the graves of tzaddikim and pray there for our spiritual and material needs?
On one hand the Rav has taught us that when a person goes to a great person for a blessing, we are supposed to learn from how the great person always prays to Hashem, without any means in between. The Rav has also said that we need to turn directly to Hashem, and that this is how Hashem wills it. Therefore, according to my feeble mind, I have kept a distance for some from visiting the tzaddikim of the generation, because I understand that it is Hashem’s will for me to turn to Him directly, and not through using a tzaddik as a go-between. On the other hand, I have learned that praying by the graves of tzaddikim was always the way of the tzaddikim throughout all the generations.
Does the Rav recommend going to graves of tzaddikim to pray there? And if yes, how many times of the year should this be done? Are there are any particular graves of tzaddikim which the Rav recommends us to go to nowadays?
I know that the Rav will tell me that this depends on whatever a person feels drawn towards, but even so, I want to know if there is any one particular tzaddik, or several specific tzaddikim, who contain an “all-inclusive” soul of the Jewish people, whose graves we would be obligated to go to, at least once a lifetime.
Also, it is possible to reach the “Yechidah” level of the soul without going to graves of tzaddikim?
On one hand the Rav has taught us that when a person goes to a great person for a blessing, we are supposed to learn from how the great person always prays to Hashem, without any means in between. The Rav has also said that we need to turn directly to Hashem, and that this is how Hashem wills it. Therefore, according to my feeble mind, I have kept a distance for some from visiting the tzaddikim of the generation, because I understand that it is Hashem’s will for me to turn to Him directly, and not through using a tzaddik as a go-between. On the other hand, I have learned that praying by the graves of tzaddikim was always the way of the tzaddikim throughout all the generations.
Does the Rav recommend going to graves of tzaddikim to pray there? And if yes, how many times of the year should this be done? Are there are any particular graves of tzaddikim which the Rav recommends us to go to nowadays?
I know that the Rav will tell me that this depends on whatever a person feels drawn towards, but even so, I want to know if there is any one particular tzaddik, or several specific tzaddikim, who contain an “all-inclusive” soul of the Jewish people, whose graves we would be obligated to go to, at least once a lifetime.
Also, it is possible to reach the “Yechidah” level of the soul without going to graves of tzaddikim?
ANSWER:
1
There are two ways of avodah: [Connecting to Hashem] by means of an intermediary, and by connecting directly with Hashem. Each soul is different when it comes to this, so it is a matter which depends on a person’s soul root [some souls will connect to Hashem through a tzaddik, and some souls will connect directly to Hashem].
But the particular time period we are in is also a factor. Throughout all of history, there has always been the way of “the entranceway which leads to the palace”, meaning [that a person can get to the “palace”, Hashem] through the means of an intermediary [i.e. through tzaddikim]. As the light of the future shines more strongly now, a person is closer to reaching Hashem more directly, without the means of an intermediary.
However, this does not invalidate the approach of using an intermediary [a tzaddik] to reach Hashem, chas v’shalom. Most souls reach a “direct” connection with Hashem [only] after they have connected to Him via an intermediary [i.e. through a tzaddik].
Connecting to Hashem through the means of an intermediary is not only via visiting the graves of tzaddikim – rather, it is mainly by connecting to the Torah teachings of the tzaddik. Therefore, there is no specific requirement to go the graves of tzaddikim. As the Sages state, “We do not erect monuments for tzaddikim. Rather, their words [of Torah] are how they are remembered.”
However, we do find as well that there are certain places to daven in, where one can connect more “directly” with Hashem. One can connect “directly” to Hashem in any place he is in, but especially in holy places. Getting more specific, the holy places to daven in [which enables one to have a more direct connection to Hashem] are: the Kosel, the Me’aras HaMachpeilah, and Kever Rochel.
QUESTION 2
When coming to pray by the grave of a tzaddik, what is the main avodah (inner work) of a person there?
ANSWER 2
1) Connect to the Torah teachings of the tzaddik, if possible. 2) Be disconnected from materialism, and become connected to the spiritual world of the soul.
There are two ways of avodah: [Connecting to Hashem] by means of an intermediary, and by connecting directly with Hashem. Each soul is different when it comes to this, so it is a matter which depends on a person’s soul root [some souls will connect to Hashem through a tzaddik, and some souls will connect directly to Hashem].
But the particular time period we are in is also a factor. Throughout all of history, there has always been the way of “the entranceway which leads to the palace”, meaning [that a person can get to the “palace”, Hashem] through the means of an intermediary [i.e. through tzaddikim]. As the light of the future shines more strongly now, a person is closer to reaching Hashem more directly, without the means of an intermediary.
However, this does not invalidate the approach of using an intermediary [a tzaddik] to reach Hashem, chas v’shalom. Most souls reach a “direct” connection with Hashem [only] after they have connected to Him via an intermediary [i.e. through a tzaddik].
Connecting to Hashem through the means of an intermediary is not only via visiting the graves of tzaddikim – rather, it is mainly by connecting to the Torah teachings of the tzaddik. Therefore, there is no specific requirement to go the graves of tzaddikim. As the Sages state, “We do not erect monuments for tzaddikim. Rather, their words [of Torah] are how they are remembered.”
However, we do find as well that there are certain places to daven in, where one can connect more “directly” with Hashem. One can connect “directly” to Hashem in any place he is in, but especially in holy places. Getting more specific, the holy places to daven in [which enables one to have a more direct connection to Hashem] are: the Kosel, the Me’aras HaMachpeilah, and Kever Rochel.
QUESTION 2
When coming to pray by the grave of a tzaddik, what is the main avodah (inner work) of a person there?
ANSWER 2
1) Connect to the Torah teachings of the tzaddik, if possible. 2) Be disconnected from materialism, and become connected to the spiritual world of the soul.
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