A large crowd was on hand at Kikar HaShabbat in Jerusalem on Sunday
for a demonstration against the expropriation of the R' Shimon Bar
Yochai gravesite in Meiron.
The demonstration was headed by rabbonim and admorim who oppose
transferring the management of the site to the Tourism Ministry, which
would change it from a holy site to a leisure site and tourist
attraction, Rachmono litzlan.
The event began with a recitation of Tehillim led by HaRav Binyomin
Finkel.
HaRav Yitzchok Shlomo Blau spoke first and then introduced the other
speakers of the evening: HaRav Yitzchok Tuviah Weiss, the Gavad
of the Eida Chareidis, HaRav Yaakov Hillel, rosh yeshiva of kabbalah
yeshiva Ahavat Shalom, HaRav Chaim Halevi Wosner, a ram at
Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin and a member of the Badatz of Bnei Brak's
Zichron Meir neighborhood, the Admor of Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, the
Raavad of the Eida Chareidis of Jerusalem, HaRav Moshe
Sternbuch, HaRav Pinchos Brauer, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Knesses
Eliyohu, and HaRav Dovid Feinstein, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Beis
Yehuda in Bnei Brak.
The speakers insisted that the site should retain its sanctity and
purity, and should remain a place designated primarily for prayer.
The event concluded with a mass kabbolas ol malchus Shomayim
led by the Admor of Toldos Aharon.
