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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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