On a recent trip to kivrei tzadikim, a very
popular [with many of the readers of mevakesh as well] mashpia quoted the
following (11:40-) (reading from a writeup related to a R. Yosef
Dayan of Eretz Yisrael) that:
"One
hour of Torah and tefillah at the burial site of a tzadik, he used to say, is
equivalent to hundreds of such hours in a Beis HaMedrash."
What
does that mean? Is there a source for this? Should we then move our yeshivos
and kolleim to cemeteries?
I
really don't get it. I would say the following: Hundreds of hours of learning
and davening in a holy Beis Medrash [a mini-beis hamikdash according to
Chazal] are hundreds of times more valuable than an hour of learning or
davening at a kever of a tzadik - there is also a special value in davening and learning at the grave of a tzadik that maybe cannot be accomplished when learning elsewhere.
I love
tzadikim. They are holy. Their kevarim are holy. But I think that one must not
lose perspective.
If
there are sources that support his claim, I would be indebted to anybody
who sends them to me.
