DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 1.01 MB)
Does One Recite a Beracha When Walking Near a Cemetery?

One who visits a Jewish cemetery recites the following the Beracha: "Baruch Ata Hashem Elokenu Melech Ha’olam Asher Bara Etchem Ba’din Ve’zan Etchem Ba’din Ve’chilkel Etchem Ba’din Ve’asaf Etchem Ba’din Ve’yode’a Mispar Kulchem Ve’hu Atid Le’hahayotchem U’l’kayemchem Baruch Ata Hashem Mehayeh Ha’metim." This requirement is codified in the Shulhan Aruch (Orah Haim 224).

One recites this Beracha only if he visits a cemetery after not having been there in at least thirty days. If he had been in that cemetery within the last thirty days, he does not recite the Beracha unless a new body had been buried there since his last visit. Therefore, anytime one goes to the cemetery for a burial, Heaven forbid, he recites the Beracha, even if he had recently been there, since a new body is being buried. Likewise, members of the Hevra Kadisha must recite the Beracha each time they go to the cemetery for a burial.

It is customary in some communities for the Rabbi to recite the Beracha at a burial on behalf of everyone in attendance.

There is a debate among the Poskim as to whether one recites the Beracha when he walks or drives by a Jewish cemetery without entering. This is very relevant to those who live near a Jewish cemetery or drive past one on their way to work. (Here in Brooklyn, for example, there is a Jewish cemetery alongside a stretch of Ocean Parkway.) Must one recite the Beracha every time he passes by the cemetery if he knows that a new body has been added? This issue is subject to a debate, and we therefore follow the rule of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel" – that we do not recite a Beracha if there is some question whether it is required. However, this "Safek Berachot" works in the other direction, as well. If one regularly passes near a cemetery, and then happens to go into the cemetery, he would not recite the Beracha. Since according to some authorities passing near a cemetery is equivalent to entering a cemetery, he is considered as having been to a cemetery within the last thirty days, and thus does not recite a Beracha. Of course, if a new body has been buried there since he last walked by, such as if he is attending a funeral, he recites the Beracha. (This Halacha is mentioned in Ateret Paz, 1:5.)

An Onen – a person whose family member has passed away but has not yet been buried – does not recite Berachot. Therefore, at a family member’s burial, Heaven forbid, one does not recite this Beracha until after the interment.

It must be emphasized that all these Halachot apply only to a Jewish cemetery; no Beracha is recited upon entering a non-Jewish cemetery.

(Taken from Yalkut Yosef – Berachot, pp. 456-458)

Summary: One who enters a Jewish cemetery for the first time in thirty days, or for the first time since a new body was buried there, such as at a burial service, recites the Beracha "Asher Bara Etchem Ba’din…" One who passes by a Jewish cemetery does not recite this Beracha, but if he then visits the cemetery after having walked by within the past thirty days, he does not recite the Beracha unless a new body had been buried in the interim.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
If One is Unsure Whether or Not He Counted the Omer
May One Purchase and Wear New Clothing During the Omer Period?
Sefirat Ha’omer – Training Children in the Misva; The Status of Women Vis-à-vis Counting the Omer
If One Remembers After Sundown That He Had Not Counted the Omer
Sefirat Ha’omer – If the Hazzan Had Missed a Day of Counting
Sefirat Ha’omer – If One Forgot to Count at Night and the Next Day, Until Ben Ha’shemashot
Sefirat Ha’omer – If a Person Missed a Day of Counting
Sefirat HaOmer- Ladies Counting The Omer??
Sefirat Ha'omer – Counting Before the Age of Bar-Misva, and a Boy Who Becomes Bar-Misva during the Omer
The Underlying Reason Behind the Mitzva of Sefirat Ha'omer; the Status of the Mitzva Nowadays
Would it be Permissible to Take a Haircut if the Quarantine Ends During the Omer Period?
Cutting Fingernails, Moving Into a New Home and Hosting a Hanukat Ha’bayit During the Omer
May a Bar Misva Boy and His Father Take a Haircut in Honor of the Occasion During the Omer?
If a Community Rabbi Missed a Day of Sefirat Ha’omer
May a Music Teacher Continue Teaching Music During the Omer Period?
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found