"It is inconceivable that human bones and skeletons lie shamefully defiled in storage boxes in the basements and vaults of the Hebrew University, without the least Jewish sensitivity, and total humiliation of the dignity of the dead." These were the words of the deputy Knesset Chairman Rabbi Uri Maklev, in light of the harsh reports being revealed these past weeks to his office and the office of MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, depicting a sorry state of human remains lying shamefully in the vaults and basements of the Hebrew University.
In the wake of this information, Rabbi Maklev sent a letter to the Education Ministry, the body responsible for the universities in Israel, expressing his shock at the severity of the disgraceful dishonor to the dead. "The source of those skeletons and bones is from archaeological excavations which were transferred to the storage places of the University and are being kept there in a shameful state, contrary to all sense of human and Jewish dignity and in total violation of the law," Rabbi Maklev noted.
The current law specifies that bones unearthed in the course of archaeological diggings be transferred to the offices of religious services for reburial but it is totally disregarded by the University.
