Ask the Rabbi
- Family and Society
- Death and Mourning
- Burial and the Cemetery
Question
If I do a Taharah have I also fulfilled the Mitzvoh of Halvayat Hamet, even if after the Taharah I don’t go to the gravesite or even wait for the actual Levayah to begin?
Answer
The mitzvah of levaya is to accompany the deceased 4 amot on his way to the burial place. Tahara is a great mitzvah but not the mitzvah of levaya.
If the leveya did not begin and you need to leave you don’t need to wait.
Farewell to deceased relatives
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Cheshvan 4, 5780
Stone setting
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Sivan 19, 5785
Purification-Tahara
Rabbi Jonathan Blass | 1 Tevet 5763
