Well, people go to the graves to pray for yeshuah of various sorts, do השטתחות to be זוכה לעיבור נשמה etc...Breslovers believe that the only way to be בן עולם הבא is to say תיקון כללי on their rebbe's grave. Lubavitcher Rebbe used to go regularly to the frierdiker's grave with a briefcase full of papers.
The midrash tells us that Yehoshua and Kalev went to pray on the graves of the Avos and were saved from עצת מרגלים.
Yehoshua and Kalev might have been a one-off. It's hard to know when one detail from an aggadita is meant to be understood as guidance for all generations.
I'm not particularly moved by the practices of Breslov and Chabad. I prefer to stick with traditional (pre-Tzfas) Judaism.
But the Rema (quoting Maharil) who advises we go to kevarim erev Rosh Hashana is a serious challenge. I don't know how to fit that with the Mechaber (and Rema) in Yore Deah 367:2.
Nature and nurture. Attitudes throught thousand of years have been shaped by these two factors. They reflect the personalities and the cultural environment and range from rationalist philosophers to believers in the divinity of their leaders. Similar spectrum is found in Islam. The midrash isn't a historical account and and reflects the belief of it's author of what is a beneficial practice. In the midrashic literature we find support for contradictory views and there is no need for pilpulim to try to reconcile them because they were taught by people with different attitudes.
But the real issue here is that the Rema is normally eminently consistent. So my first instinct is to assume there's a solid, rational distinction between what he wrote about erev Rosh Hashana and the loag l'rash halacha. I just don't know what it is.
Well, people go to the graves to pray for yeshuah of various sorts, do השטתחות to be זוכה לעיבור נשמה etc...Breslovers believe that the only way to be בן עולם הבא is to say תיקון כללי on their rebbe's grave. Lubavitcher Rebbe used to go regularly to the frierdiker's grave with a briefcase full of papers.
The midrash tells us that Yehoshua and Kalev went to pray on the graves of the Avos and were saved from עצת מרגלים.
Judaism is a wide tent, looks like.
Yehoshua and Kalev might have been a one-off. It's hard to know when one detail from an aggadita is meant to be understood as guidance for all generations.
I'm not particularly moved by the practices of Breslov and Chabad. I prefer to stick with traditional (pre-Tzfas) Judaism.
But the Rema (quoting Maharil) who advises we go to kevarim erev Rosh Hashana is a serious challenge. I don't know how to fit that with the Mechaber (and Rema) in Yore Deah 367:2.
Nature and nurture. Attitudes throught thousand of years have been shaped by these two factors. They reflect the personalities and the cultural environment and range from rationalist philosophers to believers in the divinity of their leaders. Similar spectrum is found in Islam. The midrash isn't a historical account and and reflects the belief of it's author of what is a beneficial practice. In the midrashic literature we find support for contradictory views and there is no need for pilpulim to try to reconcile them because they were taught by people with different attitudes.
But the real issue here is that the Rema is normally eminently consistent. So my first instinct is to assume there's a solid, rational distinction between what he wrote about erev Rosh Hashana and the loag l'rash halacha. I just don't know what it is.