21 June 2009
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Bones removed from a medieval Jewish cemetery in Toledo, Spain, which were discovered last year during construction work at the site, were reburied on Sunday in their original tombs. Last November, bones from 105 graves had been unearthed while construction took place to extend a secondary school in Toledo. |
Local authorities in Toledo had offered to hand over the bones for reburial at another site, but 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) had demanded that the bones be returned to their original resting place.
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, who personally supervised the burial preparations.
Lo Tishkach Executive Director Philip Carmel praised the intervention of the Spanish government as well as the uncompromising stance of the local Jewish federation which had enabled the reburial to take place.
“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.
Toledo was once a major centre of Jewish life before the expulsion of Spain’s Jewish communities in 1492.
