Praying to the Dead Violates Judaism

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

“One must not inquire of ghosts, spirits or the dead. For anyone who does such things is abhorrent to God” (Deut. 18:11.12). 

God abhors what is false, meaning one’s imagination (viz. ghosts, spirits and the dead interacting with the living). God gave us 5 senses precisely to distinguish between reality and imagination, and accept as true only the former. Never has there been evidence of ghosts or spirits, nor of the dead communicating or displaying power. Through this lack of evidence, God wishes we dismiss such imagined nonsense as fallacy. For one who believes in what is not evidenced, violates God's will, and lives in a fantasy world. He believes he can rely on imagination, only to quickly learn that imaginations do not exist, cannot answer him, and lead him to fail miserably.

Torah is complete, it does not omit fundamental truths. Does it refer to praying to the dead or placing notes in graves? 

Caleb saw the other spies (except Joshua) were evilly suspect of God’s promise of Israel. Caleb knew they would attempt to sway him to their corrupt rebellion. Caleb sought to strengthen his conviction in God’s oath to give Israel to the Jews. Therefore, he traveled to Hebron (Num. 13:22) where the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried. As that visual of their graves will evoke memories of their righteous lives that earned them God’s promise of Israel, and will emotionally fortify his opposition to the evil spies. At their graves, Caleb prayed to God, not the dead patriarchs and matriarchs (Tosfos, Sotah 34b). 

Did Saul actually converse with the dead Samuel (Sam. I, 28:15-19)? Radak provides a lengthy explanation that Saul merely “imagined” a discussion with the dead Saul. Torah recorded that imagination as literal, precisely to convey the degree of reality Saul attributed to his imagination. Here, Torah forces the reader to ask, “Was Saul actually talking to a dead Samuel…did Samuel truly reply?” This absurdity leads the reader to ask why Torah articulated Saul’s imagination as literal. But that is Torah’s style: to deliver its message to the reader with the greatest degree of impact. 

You must note that the desperate Saul did not seek out a Jew, but an idolatrous gentile to “raise the dead,” as Jews don’t practice nonsense. Genesis 32:25 says, “Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.” As Jacob was alone, this “man” cannot be literal, but refers to a part of his personality with which he battled. Again, Torah conveys that our personalities contain portions that oppose us, as if we are battling a literal person.

“Why do we go to the cemetery? In order that the dead will seek mercy for us” (Taanis 16a). 

In light of the Torah prohibition above, this allegory in Taanis is interpreted to mean that our attachment to our forefathers’ values (visiting their graves) earns us God’s mercy. For visiting their graves means we ascribe to their values. This allegory does not say to “communicate with the dead” which is undeniably prohibited, but only to visit their graves. One who visits the graves of the righteous wishes to emulate their values. God sees this and has mercy upon that person. So the way that the dead “have mercy on us” is not by any action, as they are dead. But it is “our” action, identifying with them, which earns us God's mercy. It’s an allegory. So we have no Torah precedent to circumvent God and seek man instead. This is so crucial.

We must identify the main message of this prohibition: God can do all. We don’t need men as intermediaries to God. God hears anyone from anywhere. Selichos teaches, “He who answered Mordechai and Esther in Shushan,”  “He who answered Jonah from the belly of the fish,” “He who answered Daniel in the den of lions” and all those listed cases.  God can do all, so seeking men—whether alive or dead—rejects this fundamental that all we need is God.

Seeking man distances us from God, the opposite of our intent. Isaiah 2:22 reads, “Cease to glorify human beings, who have only a breath in their nostrils! For by what do they merit esteem?” Isaiah urges man to cease his infantile search for security in frail humans, and find security in God. “Breath in their nostrils” conveys man’s dependent nature: without air he dies. Man can’t sustain himself, so it’s foolish to pray to him—alive or dead—certainly as God created man, we must turn to the greatest power for our needs.