Police Car Damaged, Haredim Arrested over Archeological Dig
print
tell a friend
Photo Credit: Hadrei Haredim
Jerusalem police on Sunday detained at least seven ultra-Orthodox protesters at the Schneller Compound, opposite the Lubavitch yeshiva on Jeremiah Street, after they disturbed archaeological excavations taking place in the area.
The protesters were claiming that there are Jewish burial caves nearby, which may not be disturbed. Other protesters were dispersed, but not before a police car windshield was damaged.
The protesters belong to the Atra Kadisha (Aramaic for “holy site”) organization, whose goal is the protection and preservation of the tombs of Jews in Israel and around the world, based on the halachic value of respect for the dead.
The organization was founded in 1959, following the original battles waged between the Ultra-Orthodox and archaeologists over the excavation of ancient tombs for scientific study – which is prohibited by Jewish law, as it violates the dignity of the deceased.
Atra Kadisha is considered to be quite extremist, even compared to the Haredi public at as a whole, and he has been involved in violent clashes with police. One of the results of their activity, however, is that many archeological projects, as well as simple construction projects must budget for the possibility of a clash over Jewish graves within the sites in question.
tell a friendAbout the Author: JewishPress.com Senior Internet Editor Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published two fun books: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.
You might also be interested in:
You must log in to post a comment.
No Responses to “Police Car Damaged, Haredim Arrested over Archeological Dig”
2
Loading ...
Those graves do not belong to the Atra Kadisha people. I can understand their belief of respecting the dead but Archeological digs dicover so much about our past history. Unfortunately, the ultra-conservative religions of any religion seem to always stand in the way of Scientific progress and discovedy. A Shanda!
so that trumps the religious rights of the dead?
Michael-religious rights of which dead? If there are graves there, they could be Partheans, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Nabateans, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Ottoman Turks-which dead? Archeology is an attempt at identification of long lost histories. The Hebrews were not created simultaneously with the creation of the land. The poor ignorant folk are unaware that Jewish graves are all over the planet-across Arabia, Asia, Europe and Africa. But not every gravesite is Hebrew. Some go back before the formulation of the Hebrew tribes and some are clearly pagan.