Question:
If the Rambam prohibits using an intercessor between ourselves and Ha-Shem, why go to the Rebbe’s kever.
Answer:
Hello. With so many people travelling to Uman, this has become a popular question. There are many ways to tackle this question and I will start with the most simple, if you are not satisfied, I welcome you to continue asking.
The basic idea is that all religious Jews agree that praying to ANYONE or ANYTHING other than God is completely and totally forbidden. When Jews go to Rebbe Nachman’s grave or any other great Tzaddik’s grave, they are heaven forbid not going there to pray to the Tzaddik. Rather, they are travelling there to A) pray to God in the merit of the Tzaddik and b) they may ask the Tzaddik to be a “Melitz Yosher” or sort of attorney for us and our prayers.
Additionally, one may ask the Tzaddik for a blessing the same way one asks a live Rov or Rosh HaYeshiva, as the sources clearly explain that Tzaddikim are still considered “alive’ even after passing from this world to the next.
This does not mean that we believe the blessing comes directly from the Tzaddik, we realize that everything comes from G-d, but we also know that a Tzaddik decrees and G-d fulfills the decree, as amazing as that seems.
Gmar Casima Toiva
Yossi Katz
