Rabbi Uri Maklev
The planning of the mega project, the biggest transportation project for Israel today known as the Metro, is in advanced stages, including the necessary government certifications. It hopes to solve the serious transportation problem by creating three underground subway lines which will include 22 districts and 110 stations over 140 kilometers, from Petach Tikva in the east, Rechovot in the south and Ranaana in the north at the cost of 150 billion shekel.
An intensive and detailed appraisal carried out by Yated Ne'eman together with the accompaniment of the Union of Kohanim indicated a serious problem regarding the sanctity of kohanim.
We reported this issue several months ago.
Pursuant of the critique, Rabbi Uri Maklev threw himself full force into solutions to the problem. We are happy to be the first to announce that his energetic activity came to a happy end by introducing the necessary changes through full coordination with HaRav Eliyahu Beifus, who participated in the meetings and hearings with the various parties from the Transportation and Treasury Ministries, as well as with the Transportation Authority which is responsible for the project. In an interview with Rabbi Maklev, he went into detail of the procedures of the past half year since the publication of the Yated Ne'eman inquiry.
At the very beginning of our interview, Rabbi Maklev stressed that it was the very inquiry which brought his attention to the problem by raising public awareness and the need for a solution. "It was necessary to convince the two central parties involved, the Administration of Infrastructure of the Transportation Ministry, which is a determining professional body, and subsequently the various professional and administrative bodies of the Municipal Transportation Netiv which is undertaking this major project, of the ramifications of the problem. As professionals, they needed to understand the importance of it and agree to seek a solution from a practical doable aspect. This did not involve merely another bus line or a simple administrative decision but a decisive engineering plan which Israel has not encountered to date."
Letter discussing the changes
