Coming to shule for a Yahrzeit – Ask the Rabbi
Q. My rabbi gets upset when people come to synagogue for Yahrzeits but are never seen at other times. Is he right?
A. I don’t think so.
I went through something similar as a young rabbi when a shule member who never came on Shabbat because his business was open that day still came every morning to say Kaddish when one of his parents died.
With youthful wisdom I decided it wasn’t right to let him conduct the service; now with the greater wisdom of an old-timer I have decided I was wrong.
Honouring your parents is one of the Ten Commandments and if a person comes to shule for this purpose who am I to deny him or her the opportunity to do a mitzvah?
A person has to make a beginning somewhere, and why not with Yahrzeit?
