IDF permits Hasidim to visit traditional grave of Talmudic rabbi on Lebanon border

TALMUDIC PILGRIMAGE: IDF Lets Hundreds of Hasidim Pray at Rabbi's Grave in Southern Lebanon. For the first time since the war with Lebanon began, the IDF allowed hundreds of Hasidim to cross the border with Lebanon to pray at the putative grave of a renowned Talmudic figure (Adi Hashmonai, Haaretz).

For the first time since the war began, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Hasidim could enter Rav Ashi's grave site, of which half is located in Israel and half in Lebanon, without sneaking in, clashing with soldiers or being arrested. Instead, this visit was fully coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces, and it was massive – a river of believers who arrived on chartered buses.

Noam, a northern Israeli resident who came with his wife, said he has lived in the area for 20 years, but had not heard about the grave of Rav Ashi – a great Talmudic scholar who was one of the editors of the Babylonian Talmud – until this year. "Suddenly, when they said people could enter, we said we have to come," he said.

Not surprisingly, there is controversy over this move, including about who is really buried in the grave.

A couple of PaleoJudaica posts involving Rav Ashi and the Talmud are here (no. 3) and here.

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