The Ministry of Housing and Construction is delaying the
allocation of hundreds of thousands of shekels needed to
solve the problem of tumas kohanim at the entrance to
Ramat Beit Shemesh.
Quite some time ago, the Federation for the Prevention of
Desecration of Graves discovered a Jewish burial cave under
Nachal Kishon Street, near the entrance to Ramat Beit
Shemesh. The Federation warned that kohanim are
forbidden to pass over that section of the road, located at
the left turn into Nachal Kishon Street. Kohanim must
travel by alternate longer routes to avoid becoming
tomei.
Requests that the Ministry of Construction and Housing solve
the problem have so far fallen upon deaf ears.
Signs warning kohanim not to traverse this route were
removed, apparently by secular and national-religious
residents seeking to obliterate any indication that the
neighborhood is chareidi and religious, even though 50
percent of its residents are chareidi. This has caused many
kohanim to transgress unwittingly.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Housing and Construction,
Kobi Bleich, said that half-a-million shekels are needed to
solve the problem. "Because these additional expenses were
not taken into consideration when the initial budget was
formulated, a committee to investigate the matter will soon
be convened. At the end of the procedural process, the
required funds will be transferred to the pertinent
agencies."
