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26 Teves 5769 - January 22, 2009 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Leading Poskim Rule Against Disinterment to Allow Construction at Ashkelon Hospital

By Yechiel Sever

Leading poskim including Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita issued a firm ruling against plans to carry out construction work at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon after Jewish graves were found at the building site.

In the ruling maranan verabonon shlita write that halacha clearly forbids "disinterring a cluster of graves where the dead lie in a conventional position, even if the disinterment is done properly by G-d-fearing individuals performing the task according to halacha.

"There is no basis to permit [disinterment] in order to save lives in a case where the life-saving benefit will come only after a substantial amount of time to those who need it then, and there is no life-saving for people currently in need. Mentioning the dispensation of pikuach nefesh in connection with future matters like these is a distortion that is in effect an act of uprooting the Torah.

"And based on what we were told — that there is a possibility to add onto the hospital on another side where there would be no harm to graves — the entire discussion is superfluous."

The letter is signed by HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner and HaRav Nissim Karelitz shlita.

Maran HaRav Eliashiv included the following addendum above his signature: "Based on the inquiries and the information presented to me there is no room to permit disinterring the dead [found] at the hospital grounds in Ashkelon, and the new wing should be built in such a way that it does not harm the cemetery."

The Association for the Prevention of Grave Desecration warned in the past that building the fortified section on a site adjacent to the existing portion of the hospital would involve severe desecration of Jewish gravesites, noting that the issue has been clarified beyond any doubt.

Inquiries at the site substantiated concerns that the site contains Jewish graves. In response to claims that an agreement was already signed with a building contractor, the Association for the Prevention of Grave Desecration points out that the agreement was signed after the problem came to light.

Going forward with the project would also set a dangerous precedent with repercussions for all grave-preservation campaigns waged by Torah-true Jewry in both Eretz Yisroel and the Diaspora.

 

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