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...
The Scale of Misvot and Sins
The Four Categories of Atonement for Sins
Earning Atonement Through Repentance
Special Customs for the 25th of Elul (TODAY)
The Five Sins For Which it is Difficult to Repent
The Primary Components of Teshuva
Recommended Modes of Conduct as Part of the Teshuva Process
The Four Grievous Sins That Impede the Process of Teshuva
The Status of Informers and Those Who Impose Authority on the Community; Earning a Share in the World to Come Through Repentance
Forfeiting One's Share in the Next World by Leading Others to Sin, Isolating Oneself from the Jewish People, or Brazenly Transgressing the Torah
The "Apikorsim," "Kofrim" and "Minim" Who Have no Share in the Next World
Saying The Yag Midot in Selichot
Coming Closer To G-d from Rosh Chodesh Elul Until Yom Kippur
The Meaning of “Sabri Maranan”
Must the Person Who Leads Birkat Ha’mazon Drink the Wine?
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found