Shalom. An old house located in a cemetery is currently being used as a storage house. Would it be in order to rebuild and live permanently in that house, in the cemetery?
Answer:
Out of respect for the deceased, the Talmud writes that one should not eat, drink, and perform other physical functions in a graveyard. This includes using the graveyard as a shortcut, and so on. However, these prohibitions apply only to the actual area of the graves themselves, and would not apply to eating in a house built in a cemetary, because the house is a separate domain. Yet, living there might raise a concern of treating the dead (the quiet “next door neighbors”) with disrespect (for example, the question of using the graveyard as a shortcut), and it would be advisable to somehow cordon off the area of the house from the actual graveyard.
Sources: See Megillah 29a; Maseches Semachos chap. 14; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 368:1.
