Visiting a Cemetery
From Halachipedia
This is the approved revision of this page, as well as being the most recent.
Proper Behavior
- At a cemetery one must tuck in his strings, as it is לועג לרש, meaning appears like one is scoffing at the dead (Mishlei 17:5), as it expresses that they are poor and exempt from Mitzvot and are not able to fulfill them, while we do fulfill them. [1]
- According to some poskim one shouldn't carry a sefer torah in a cemetery.[2]
Washing One's Hands
- After visiting a cemetery a person should do netilat yadayim (wash his hands). There is a discussion if this applies to someone who visited a non-Jewish cemetery.[3]
Reciting a Beracha
see Brachot on Sights - Bracha for Seeing a Cemetery
Who Can/Should Visit?
Pregnant Women
see Pregnancy and Labor - Cemetery
Sources
- ↑ Shulchan Aruch 23:1 based on Gemara Berachot 18a, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rav Rephael Baruch Toledano, siman 9, laws of Tzitzit in a cemetery, seif 1. see https://torah.org/learning/mishna-berura-s23/ torah.org for greater detail
- ↑ Bach YD 282:3 and Taz 282:3 are strict to forbid carrying a sefer torah within 4 amot of a grave. Nodeh Beyehuda OC 109 discusses the matter and isn't certain that it is forbidden.
- ↑ Teshuvot Vehanhagot 2:581 writes that there's no need to wash one's hands after visiting a non-Jewish cemetery. However, Chashukei Chemed m"k 8b holds otherwise that a person should wash his hands even after visiting a non-Jewish cemetery. See also Yad Halevi v. 1.
