If they are tzadikim or not? is a good question. But worship is due to God alone. And the religious world is the opposite of worship of God. They worship dead tzadikim,-- all the rituals none withstanding.
Belief in God is rational. Everything has a cause. So unless there is a first cause, then you would have an infinite regress. And then nothing could exist. Therefore there must be a first cause. Therefore God, the first cause, exists. QED.
11.2.22
dead tzadikim
In prayer, people ought to turn to God alone. Not to God through tzadikim saints or any intermediator. Even in the merit of tzadikim. If you think about the times of the prophets, there was a sort of clarity that one should worship and pray to God alone. Not through any intermediator. The modern equivalent of worship of idols is worship of dead tzadikim. [Or even live tzadikim].
