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NEWS
Spanish Government Freezes Excavation Work at Ancient Jewish Cemetery

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The government of Spain has ordered local officials to immediately stop desecrating a Jewish cemetery in Toledo. Following a series of meetings with representatives from the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (CPJCE), the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain and the Conference of Spanish Rabbis, officials from the Spanish Foreign Ministry ordered the Castile-La Mancha Local Council, which has jurisdiction over Toledo, to halt work pending an inquiry and a halachic-engineering-legal solution to the complex problem.

The site is being excavated by archaeologists from the Spanish Antiquities Authority in order to expand a local school. During the digging work, medieval Jewish graves were found, stirring a flurry of international protest. Following an invitation from the Spanish Foreign Ministry and Ana Salomon, the Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for relations with the Jewish community, two representatives traveled to Madrid and Toledo — Rabbi Avraham Ginsburg, executive director of the CPJCE, and Mr. Philip Carmel, director of international relations at the CER. The two met with Ms. Salomon and other officials from the Foreign Ministry, Antiquities Authority and the Castile-La Mancha Local Council. Representatives from the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain and the Conference of Spanish Rabbis also took part in the meetings.

CER Chairman Rabbi Abba Dunner commended the Spanish authorities this week for their cooperation in bringing a halt to the desecration of the graves, adding that he hopes this cooperation will continue and prevent grave desecration starting in the planning phase.

The CER, whose members include the chief rabbis as well as avos beis din and dayonim in 40 European countries, serves as an international non-government consultant organization to the European Commission and European Union institutions.

The Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, headed by HaRav A. Schlesinger of London, serves a similar function. Founded in 1995, the goal of the volunteer organization is to protect and preserve Jewish cemeteries and mass graves throughout Europe. The organization has a team of experts conversant in the laws of European countries and is considered the top halachic authority on the issue of preserving Jewish cemeteries in Europe.

In addition to halting excavations at the site, the representatives of the two organizations demanded that all activities the authorities in Madrid and Toledo and elsewhere in Spain undertake near or in Jewish cemeteries be done in full coordination and with the approval of the Conference of Spanish Rabbis, which is headed by Spanish Chief Rabbi Moshe Ben Dahan, the CPJCE and the CER.

 

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