Two items about the protest against digging at the grave of the Rambam in Tiberias—1955.

Two items about the protest against digging at the grave of the Rambam in Tiberias—1955.

1. Pamphlet “Hasiru Michshol MiDerech Ami, including both explanation of the prohibition of marriage and involvement with the Karaite cult, and an exegesis on the prohibition against digging at graves and unearthing bones in the area of the Rambam’s grave in Tiberias. A rare booklet published by the Ga'on Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg - a member of the Beit Din Jerusalem, author of Tzitz Eliezer, with an introduction by the Ga'on Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, Rav of Yerushalayim Jerusalem 1955. Generally very good condition.

2. A large poster [Peshkavil] bearing the title "A scandal was done in Israel" about the desecration of the cemetery in Tiberias near the grave of the Rambam and the Holy Shlah, with the signature of Rabbi Soloveitchik of Brisk, the Gartzap Frank, Ga’avad of Chevin, and others. Signs of folding because it was sent in the mail to Rabbi Avraham Moashe, rabbi of Givat Aliya in Yafo, and son-in-law of the Ahavat Yisrael of Vizhnitz. Tear with damage to the text in the upper center. Generally good condition.

At the end of 1955, in the cemetery in Tiberias, near the graves of the Rambam and the Shelah, development work was carried out by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and many graves were discovered near the tomb of Maimonides. Workers continued to work despite finding the graves, and later members of the Antiquities Authority and museums joined the effort and took away coffins and bones. After several weeks of work at the site, members of Hevra Kadisha from Tiberias were invited to the site, and they buried the remains of the remaining bones scattered throughout the area. A report published on January 2 in Haaretz on the "purification of the Tomb of the Rambam from the impurity of the unknown tombs that were discovered there" provoked a storm among Haredi circles in Israel and abroad. In contrast to the publication in the newspaper of "doubts about the identity of these dead if they are B'nai B'rith or not," the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Toledano, argued that "the tomb of the Rambam is filled with the graves of the greatest of Israel ... and no one has doubts that there could possibly be graves of non-Jews."One of the prominent leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community at the time, the Rabbi of Brisk, Rabbi Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, was shocked by what he saw as desecration of the dead. He approached Neturei Karta - Rabbi Amram Blau and Rabbi Aharon Katzenellenbogen - and asked them to organize demonstrations and to prevent as much as possible the continuation of the work in the graves in Tiberias, and they went with a large number of activists to the site to protest the destruction of the graves. The protests helped, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Antiquities Department were deterred and decided to temporarily freeze the work on the site. The freezing of the work led to two Knesset queries, which were answered by Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Zerach Werhaptig. After a period of time, the activities that the Haredim perceived as the desecration of the graves were renewed, with protests and demonstrations by the ultra-Orthodox. The people of Neturei Karta placed guards around the graves 24 hours a day to prevent the workers and the archaeologists from approaching the graves. The protest groups numbered hundreds of people, and they also held demonstrations in the streets of Tiberias. The Neturei Karta people announced that they were considering appealing to the UN to intervene in this affair, and one day, one of the tractors working at the site hit grave nearby to that of the SHLHA. Although the injury was accidental, a storm broke out and the tractor driver rushed to escape. Following the incident, there was a serious uproar, and the extreme protest that took place that day led to the final decision to suspend the work at the site of the tomb of Maimonides. The bones were buried next to the Tomb of Maimonides and a tombstone was erected on them.