The grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Ben Groggia) was buried in the “Sanhedria Cemetery”, inside the holy city of Jerusalem. Here are the arrival details and additional details for those who wish to land on the holy grave.
The way of arrival
The entrance to Sanhedria Cemetery is at 1 Rabbi Blouy Street, located at the Maran Junction (formerly: “Bar Ilan Junction,” the name of the junction changed after Maran Rabbinu Ovadia Yosef was buried there. The Maran Junction is the intersection of Bar Ilan Street and Shmuel Hanavi Street – one of the most central places in Jerusalem because it connects the northern neighborhoods (on the side of Bar Ilan) to the highlands (the Golda Meir Road, which is a direct continuation of Shmuel Hanavi Street) to the Old City (Shmuel Hanavi Street). For those arriving from Bar Ilan Street, at a light at the end of the street turn left and immediately turn right in the alley (behind the kiosk, toward Bloy Street), where on the right is the entrance to the cemetery. There is almost no parking in the area, so the recommendation is to take public transport. From Central Station, Egged Line 52, 3A, 67, 64, 68, 65, other lines: 16, 36, 226, and more.
Here’s a map of Google Maps:
After walking into the cemetery, where should I turn?
As soon as you enter the cemetery (on foot, because there is no possibility with a car if not with special permission), turn left until the end of the cemetery, and go down the small steps (about 4 steps), where you can identify a large installation for lighting marble-covered candles, and next to two graves, the Rabbinit Margalit
Yosef grave , and the tomb of Maran Rabbinu Ovadia Yosef. Near Maran grave (2 graves away, on the other side of the stairs), the grave of Hachem Shalom Cohen, head of the Porat Yosef Yeshiva, is found.
Opening hours
The cemetery is open every day from 07:30-24:00, and on Saturdays and holidays until two hours before Shabbat and holidays (in fact according to the Kabbalists, on Saturdays and holidays it is better to prostrate before midnight today – at temporary hours). On the night of Maran’s Hlula, the cemetery is open all night.
Women and Cohanim
The grave of our rabbi, Ovadia Yosef, is next to the sidewalks where there are no graves, with a railing of iron separating the graves. According to a letter published by maran the “RIshon Letzion” R. Yitzchak Yosef , the women must stand by the railing, and not descend to his grave in order to separate women from men, and thus maintain the fences of modesty in this holy place. (But every year on the day of the Hilula, a separation is established on the grave itself, and
then the women can go down there, too.)
The following is the text of Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s letter dated 4th of Shevat , after he brought the Gemara in a sukkah about the separation between men and women in the Temple:
“Therefore, I turn to this with an impassioned call to the women of Israel who come to visit Maran , who, in order to preserve the sanctity of the place, as long as a partition is not properly arranged, women must pray only in the upper compound to the right of Zion on the inside (before the iron rail toward the fence on the Harel Brigade Street). They did not pray for the title itself. And I am sure that by keeping the fences of modesty and holiness, Maran Zayah will recommend goodness in Eden in the heavens that prayer will be received with mercy and will be blessed with all the blessings written in the Torah, and will be blessed with all the words of the best, and all their wishes will be filled with goodness and blessing. And Hashem will answer all those who have different and strange opinions against the true view, that in such things all who add holiness will be sanctified from heaven.”
The Cohanim can also enter the cemetery and turn right and reach to the place with the banister henge, thus merit to pray a few meters from the grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef , without fear.
More articles worth seeing for those who want to prostrate themselves and pray on the grave of our great rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztl:
The text of the plaster on the grave of Maran Rabbinu Ovadia Yosef(Hebrew)
What should we do on the day of the Hilula of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef? (Hebrew)
In the picture: The tomb of our Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
A short video showing the way to the grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef:
Since our website is designed for halachah answers, here is a very interesting question about Maran’s grave:
Is it permissible to visit the grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, with a foreign wig?
(The Rabbi replies: Rabbi Yosef Chaim Siman Tov)
Question: A woman who wears a foreign wig to her head, is she permitted to exceed the holy Zion of Maran , Rabbi Ovadia Yosef , since it is completely contrary to his opinion in Halachah, or is there no fear in this?
Answer: This question is true regarding the rise of any Tzaddik, whether at the time of the ascent to his grave or at the time of his funeral it is permissible to do the opposite from his opinion in Halachah.
From the main point of the Halachah, a Tzaddik who has already been buried, there is no fear of going to his grave to do the opposite of his opinion, whether he acts as the ruling law, or according to what he received from his Rabbis.
Even at the time of the funeral of the Tzaddik, it turns out that there is no fear of doing the opposite of his opinion,
but if he’s his rabbi, it’s probably not good to do the opposite of his opinion
If he does anything on the grave, for the Tzaddik himself who is dead, It’s not good to do that, but if he does something between himself, it turns out that there is no problem in the Halachah
many of the wigs that are common in our time, there is no Rabbi in Israel who permits them. It is certainly not appropriate for the pilgrims to pray on his grave, to ascend in a foreign wig, but by covering their headsaccording to Halachah, and then it is certainly that because of the Segulah Hashem will receive the prayers .
