Many take time to visit the cemetery before Rosh Hashanah, following an old custom laid out in the Code of Jewish Law.1

What is the reason for this custom?

Some explain that the cemetery is the resting place of the righteous, and prayers offered there are more readily accepted. Essentially, we are asking G‑d to grant us mercy in the merit of the righteous who lie there.2

But it goes deeper than that.

When discussing practices observed on communal fast days, the Talmud asks: “Why do we go out to the cemetery [on a fast day]?” And it provides two answers: 1) “This is as if to say: We are like the dead before You,” and 2) “... so that the dead will request mercy on our behalf.”3

According to the second reason, visiting the graves of the righteous isn't just about getting into the right frame of mind by pondering our own mortality, nor is it solely to evoke the merit of the righteous. It is more than that: it is so that they, too, will pray and beseech G‑d for mercy.

Indeed, elsewhere, the sages tell us:

“Why was Moses’ burial site hidden from human eyes? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, knew that in the future, the Temple would be destroyed and the Jewish people would be exiled from their Land. Perhaps they would then come to Moses' grave, weep, and plead with Moses: 'Our teacher, arise and pray for us!' … And Moses would stand and nullify the harsh decree, since the righteous are beloved in their death more than in their lifetime."4

In other words, praying at the grave of the righteous is so powerful that G‑d hid the resting place of Moses—precisely because of its potency!

In light of the above, and the many other sources found throughout the Talmud and Zohar, a fuller picture emerges.

Although some take pains to add an important caveat: one should not direct their request toward the dead themselves; we are merely asking G‑d to grant us mercy in their merit. In actual practice, the custom passed down through the generations, going back to when Caleb prayed at the graves of our forefathers and foremothers during the incident of the Spies, and even earlier, is that Jews have long prayed at the graves of their ancestors and of the righteous, asking them to arouse mercy and speak well of the living before G‑d.5

In other words, there are essentially three reasons for visiting the cemetery: To put us in the right frame of mind regarding our own mortality, to evoke the merit of the righteous, and to enlist the souls of the departed to beseech G‑d for mercy.

When one seeks G‑d’s mercy at the resting place of a departed soul, that soul is aroused to offer many prayers on the penitent’s behalf in the Heavenly Realms. The dead, after all, are aware of the living and feel their pain.

In fact, the Zohar states that if not for the prayers of the departed on behalf of those down here, the world could not endure.6 This is especially true before Rosh Hashanah, when the world is judged; the souls of our ancestors7 seek mercy for us.8

For this reason, it is the custom of many to visit the resting place of the righteous on Erev Rosh Hashanah, among them, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who would visit the Ohel of his father-in-law, the Sixth Rebbe, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah after midday, reading through the thousands of letters and names he received from people all over the world in order to arouse mercy on their behalf.9

It is considered a great merit to pray at the graves of the deceased—and especially at the graves of the righteous—whenever one is in need, but particularly before Rosh Hashanah. This is because it does more than put us in the right frame of mind or invoke the merit of the righteous. It allows us to enlist them, so that as we beseech G‑d, they beseech Him together with us—that we may all merit a sweet new year!