printed in: Gruppe K (ed.), Für den Erhalt des jüdischen Friedhofs in Ottensen, Hamburg 1992, p. 27.
Decision by the By invitation of the
Opinion
regarding the Jewish cemetery in
the three undersigned
matter. For example: Is it permissible to remove remains and if so, in what manner?
What is the Jewish
position on selling cemeteries? Etc.After a thorough exegesis of
the Halakha (religious law) and after consultation with the
great sagesof this generation we have come to the following conclusion:the above-mentioned cemetery belongs to the dead alone, who have
purchased their graves at full price for all eternityuntil the resurrection
of the dead. No human being, no organization, and no congregation has the
right to claim ownership of this ground. Therefore any sale of this ground, by
any entity, is legally invalid from the perspective of Jewish religious law. That
means that the current
proprietors of the lot own it illegally, and those who have sold it have acted
without authority. The cemetery is sacred, it is a global sacred
site, it is more sacred than the synagogue. In the Talmud theremains of the dead are equal to
the sanctum of the Torah. According
to our faith, and also viewed from the moral
aspect, the excavations on the cemetery site and the damage to the remains of the
dead causes
deep sorrow and it violates the respect for the deceased as it is explained in
and
that everything humanly possible must be done to prevent the desecration of this cemetery
and to prohibit any construction work on this sacred ground. Nowhere and at no time
was consent given to desecrate a cemetery, as it is the case here. We are convinced
that if the
representatives of the Jews in
entire Jewish people, they will feel obliged to be considerate and to take the
feelings of
the Jewish people regarding the desecration of the cemetery into account. With a
prayer for the
deceased and in remembrance of the
that we will succeed in foiling this terrible malice and to secure the peace of the
holy ones who
are buried in this cemetery.