Politics—Not Religious Law—Rules Ultra-Orthodox Demonstrators

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Political power, not religious law, motivates the ultra-Orthodox in Israel who violently protest archaeological excavations, claiming that ancient Jewish graves are being desecrated.

Jewish religious law (halakhah) does not prohibit moving tombs, if it is done with dignity and respect. The sages were well aware of the necessity to relocate graves and their contents, as tombs are found everywhere in this continuously and heavily populated country. The Talmud even tells us about a skull that was found on the Temple Mount itself and then moved.¹ Talmudic literature describes the great second-century rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai clearing the city of Tiberias of ancient tombs and purifying it.²

The talmudic sages understood that urban growth required the relocation of earlier tombs. Therefore, they said that every tomb may be exhumed and moved.³ Halakhically there is nothing against it.

At the turn of the era, 2,000 years ago, secondary burial was commonly practiced among Jews. Thousands of ossuaries, or bone boxes, from this time have been found around Jerusalem. About a year after a body was interred, and the flesh had decayed, the bones of the deceased were removed and then placed in these ossuaries.

We also have other archaeological evidence of the relocation of tombs. When Magen Broshi excavated the Hasmonean city wall (second century B.C.E.) in Jerusalem, he found an Iron Age tomb (c. eighth century B.C.E.) directly under it, which we published together.⁴ The tomb was completely empty: nothing whatsoever was in it. It had been cleared by the ancients—for halakhic reasons: It was less than 50 cubits^a from the last house in the later city, which would have been within the range of impurity imparted by the bones of the deceased. Therefore, the tomb had to be moved. It’s presence could not be allowed to stop the growth of the city.

Even in modern days, rabbis have excavated tombs. The former chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and ex-minister of religious affairs, Rabbi Yaacov Moshe Toledano, who was a native of Tiberias, excavated and cleared Jewish tombs there in collaboration with archaeologists.⁵

I myself have had experience working in the field with a rabbi. In 1976 some yeshiva students, with their rabbi, participated in the excavation of tombs at a site in Jerusalem called Ketef Hinnom, a dig that I directed.^b When I was working at the site in 1994, however, I found the situation had changed dramatically. There were violent demonstrations at the site in which about 40 people were detained. Several people were hurt, and one ended up in the hospital.

Today, no rabbi or yeshiva student would participate in a dig involving tombs. Indeed, they would not be involved in any archeological excavation. Archaeologists are now more impure than the dead. Archaeologists are worse than Satan.

In the early days of the state of Israel, and even before, archaeology was considered a search for roots, a justification for our being here. For General Moshe Dayan and many other national leaders, some of whom helped found the Israel Exploration Society, it was a kind of spiritual hobby. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, visited many of the digs. The second chief of staff of the Israeli army, Yigael Yadin, became Israel’s most famous archaeologist. Many of 057the generals in the Israeli army had archaeological collections. During the 1950s, conventions of the Israel Exploration Society were attended by leading political figures, including the president of the state.

The ultra-Orthodox (the haredim) were—and are—fiercely anti-Zionist; they were—and are—against the Jewish state. They held—and hold—that when God wants a Jewish state, he will create it himself. So in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox, archaeology is part of this monster named Zionism. They claim that we have no need to study ancient material culture or to uncover ancient artifacts. We have the Holy Scriptures, they claim; that is all we need. For the ultra-Orthodox, the search for material roots is entirely foreign and unnecessary. They are a people of ideas, they say, living with the Biblical text; they feel they do not need artifacts. They cannot understand the culture of archaeology, and they don’t want it. That is why, until the advent of scientific archaeology in the 20th century, so few Jews were archaeologists.

With more recent political and social developments, Israel has become a well-established society and state. The search for roots is no longer so compelling, and the public interest in archaeology has slowly waned. Cabinet members and politicians are no longer interested in archaeology. Archaeology has become a kind of leftover from another period. For the ultra-Orthodox, however, archaeology remains a symbol of the Zionist approach to Jewish history—which, of course, they oppose. They don’t recognize the state, and they don’t want a state.

From the very beginning, there has been a great debate as to what kind of state Israel should be. Should it be a modern, democratic, Western country, or should it be a clerical, Jewish, halakhic state? It is an old battle. Gradually, the ultra-Orthodox realized that by boycotting the state they were hurting their own cause. So slowly they got involved in politics. They have learned well. They now know how to use political pressure, how to obtain budgets for their causes—how to influence all aspects of life in Israel.

Archaeology is symbolic for the ultra-Orthodox. And it is vulnerable. They do not protest soccer on Saturdays. They are practical people. They know people will go watch soccer on Shabbat no matter what; it is a fight they would lose. They don’t protest television on Shabbat; they know the public would not tolerate that. They do not try to stop all transportation on Saturday. They go against archaeology and archaeologists because we are a very weak, vulnerable link in the chain of the Zionist state. If archaeology stopped, no one would shed a tear.

It is not only very easy to attack archaeology, it is also very easy for the government to give in.

Strange as it may seem, the matter of tombs does not really interest the ultra-Orthodox. If they were really interested in the sanctity of bones, they would help the Antiquities Authority stop the looting of graves. I would say that 99 percent of what is seen in antique shops comes from tomb robbing. Those tomb robbers who dig clandestinely do not turn over the bones to the rabbinical authority or any other religious group—they just throw them away. Yet the ultra-Orthodox do not work with the Antiquities Authority to stamp this out.

I am acquainted with contractors and builders here in Jerusalem. They tell me they come upon burials and just bulldoze them away. Reporting the tombs would only delay their construction work. Why get in trouble with the Antiquities Authority, on the one hand, and with the ultra-Orthodox on the other? Bulldozing burials is apparently okay with the ultra-Orthodox. They do not protest at building sites unless archaeologists are involved in these sites. They only try to stop archaeologists—who really care about the tombs, who very carefully clean the bones, who have an emotional appreciation for the past and who ultimately turn over the bones to the religious authorities for reburial with dignity and respect. The ultra-Orthodox attack the archaeologists but not those who loot or bulldoze the tombs.

Israeli law does not prohibit the excavation of tombs. Tombs must be excavated, or there will be no building, no development. The ruckus that the ultra-Orthodox are making is principally a political matter. By demonstrating against archaeology, they can prove to their supporters that they are doing something. They 077can say they are influencing the state, that their power is recognized.

They have so much power today because neither of the major parties (Likud and Labor) can muster a parliamentary majority. Both must rely on the relatively small religious parties, such as the ultra-Orthodox, if they are to form a government.

Compare this with the situation in the 1950s, when the Labor party had a ruling majority even without the religious parties. At that time, the famous tombs of Beth Shearim were excavated without protest, even though the great rabbi Judah the Prince, or Judah ha Nasi, compiler of the Mishnah,^c known in Jewish tradition simply as Rabbi, was buried there. There were no protests, no demonstrations. Why was that excavation all right? Because the Labor party didn’t need the ultra-Orthodox to make a coalition.

Today the ultra-Orthodox can squeeze. And whatever they squeeze from the ruling Likud party, the opposition Labor party offers twice as much. Thus, they have enormous political power, and naturally they press more. The more the government depends on ultra-Orthodox votes, the more trouble we are going to have in archaeology.

Political power, not religious law, motivates the ultra-Orthodox in Israel who violently protest archaeological excavations, claiming that ancient Jewish graves are being desecrated. Jewish religious law (halakhah) does not prohibit moving tombs, if it is done with dignity and respect. The sages were well aware of the necessity to relocate graves and their contents, as tombs are found everywhere in this continuously and heavily populated country. The Talmud even tells us about a skull that was found on the Temple Mount itself and then moved.1 Talmudic literature describes the great second-century rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai clearing the city of […]