Following extensive efforts to locate a site, enormous
quantities of genizah were buried at a new, specially
prepared site in the Abu Dis area near Maaleh Adumim through
City of Jerusalem funding.
Tons of genizah amassed in the streets of Jerusalem in
recent months, most of which was consolidated in 23 storage
containers outside the Shamgar Funeral Site, a site
maintained by the Religious Council of Jerusalem. Due to the
lack of suitable burial space, more and more tons piled up,
leading to a lack of respect for the kisvei kodesh at
the hands of people who rummaged through the containers in
search of various findings. Sanitation Department Director
Tzion Shetreet was asked to store the containers at the
City's storage facility in Givat Shaul where the kisvei
kodesh would be safe. Additional storage containers were
placed in industrial areas near the printing houses.
In the past, the municipal company Moriah conducted wide
searches for suitable locations to bury genizah but
the sites used previously are all completely full and burial
sites that had not yet been paved over with roads were
nowhere to be found in the Jerusalem area. Recently, burial
options were further diminished due to objections by
environmental organizations.
Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky recently asked his deputy, Rabbi
Uri Maklev, to attend to the matter of genizah and
professionals at the municipality began to conduct extensive
mapping and checks to find a suitable burial site in the
Jerusalem area. Numerous sites were rejected and only after
weeks of searching did Mr. Gil Reichman, director the of
City's environmental department, arrange to use a site in the
Abu Dis area for which detailed future plans had been
made.
The City invested a large sum of money to prepare the site
for genizah, based on directives by HaRav Shimon
Zicherman, who is in charge of genizah at the
Religious Council. After securing all the necessary permits,
the City's sanitation department began to transport and bury
the enormous quantities of genizah that had
accumulated in Jerusalem over the past 30 months.
After an operation which lasted just a few days, Deputy Mayor
Maklev sent a letter thanking Shetreet for his speedy work.
City spokesmen note that although a burial site has just been
found it will only suffice for a short period and the City
has already begun to look for additional sites for future
use.
