Question:
Greetings to his honor the Rav,
I would like to know if there is a prohibition against praying or reading mishnayot, etc. at the graves of the righteous? In checking with my rabbi, he said to me that it is prohibited and that the general principle is that we do not benefit from cemeteries. He also said that the prohibition includes bringing prayer books to cemeteries. The majority of people that I know go for these purposes to the graves of the righteous. What is the law?
Answer:
It is prohibited to pray or to read within four amot of a grave, and even at the graves of the righteous. And we do not learn what the law is from what the masses of people do, but rather from Torah scholars.
Question:
Is there an obligation to perform halitah on poultry when the poultry submerged in liquid and then placed into an oven to cooking/roasting on the grill?
Answer:
For cooking halitah is required.
For roasting on a grill, there is no requirement of halitah.
Question:
לק"י
Does the fact that there are disagreements among the Rishonim in matters of Jewish thought/belief necessitate that one of those involved in the disagreement is mistaken?
And if so, because they are mistaken, does this result in the teaching of the one who is mistaken not being considered Torah and therefore that we cannot say birkat ha-torah over learning it because of the principle that states safek berakhot le-hakel?
I know that this is not so, but why are we not able to say this?
Is it possible to say two Rishonim are correct, just like we say regarding disagreements among the Tannaim and the Amoraim that elu ve-elu divrei Elohim chayyim? The problem with this would be, for example, that one and the same vessel would be declared both pure and impure. And this is not possible, rather we are obligated to decide the halakhah in accordance with a particular opinion. But it is not, God forbid, that one of them is mistaken so what do we say in our case?
Please teach us, rabbi, but do not teach us that, God forbid, we are finding fault with one of the Rishonim.
Answer:
We need to know that there are not two truths. There is only one truth. But while in halakhah there are basic rules, and the possibilities for disagreement are limited, and there are ways of arriving at a decision (and an institution to make halachic decisions for the entire House of Israel, the Sanhedrin), in matters of belief – which are less able to be articulated in comparison to issues of halakhah – we have nothing except the 13 principles of faith. Although, some Rishonim did disagree with the Rambam regarding them.
Therefore, there is no doubt, that while the Sanhedrin teaches its halakhic instruction to all Israel elu ve-elu divrei Elohim chayyim because each one for the sake of Heaven intended to arrive at a conclusion according to the best of his knowledge and understanding. But when the Sanhedrin comes to a decision there is only one truth – the truth of the Sanhedrin.
But in regard to belief, it is worthwhile to unify around the 13 principles of faith as codified by the Rambam and to become childlike in accepting the truth of them until the renewal of the Sanhedrin.