http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184901185&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullMedieval Jewish bones reinterred in Toledo
Jun. 2, 2009
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST
Jewish
bones belonging to 105 bodies that were removed from a medieval Jewish
cemetery in Toledo, Spain were reinterred Sunday in their original
graves.
Because of the way they were buried, the bones, discovered six
months ago during construction of a non-Jewish secondary school, are
believed to be the remnants of Jews who lived between the 13th and 14th
centuries in Toledo, once a major Jewish center.
Today there is no Jewish community in Toledo.
Major rabbis such as Asher Ben-Yehiel (1250 or 1259 - 1328)
known by his acronym the "Rosh," and Yonah Ben-Abraham Gerundi (died
1263), know as Rabbeinu Yonah, were both buried somewhere in Toledo.
Local authorities in Toledo originally offered to reinter the
bones at another site. But for halachic reasons, the local Jewish
federation, strongly supported by the Conference of European Rabbis
(CER) and the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in
Europe (CPJCE), demanded that the bones be returned to their original
resting place.
According to Jewish law, a buried Jew has a special connection to its original burial site.
The reburial took place on Sunday and was attended by local and
national government representatives, leaders of the Federation of
Jewish Communities in Spain and the president of the CPJCE, Rabbi
Elyokim Schlesinger.
Schlesinger, 87, braved the 40º summer weather to supervise the
burial preparations, said CER International Relations Director Philip
Carmel.
"He wanted to be personally involved in the mitzva," said Carmel.
Carmel praised the cooperation of the Spanish government as well
as the uncompromising stance of the local Jewish federation which had
enabled the reburial to take place.
He said that pressure from the Jewish federation in Madrid
eventually persuaded the Spanish authorities, after six months, that
the bones had to be reinterred at the same spot.
"Toledo has a unique place in the history of the Golden Age of
the Jews of Spain and the Spanish government understood this and
constantly sought to persuade the local government to respect the
sanctity of this site," Carmel said.
"Throughout our negotiations with the Toledo authorities, we
insisted that these Toledo Jews be buried in exactly the same graves
from which they were removed. They intended this site as their eternal
resting place and it was our duty to ensure they were reburied
according to their wishes," he added.