Brussels – Turkish Chief Rabbi’s Son Dismisses Charges of Grave Desecration

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    Turkish Chief Rabbi’s Son Dismisses Charges of Grave DesecrationBrussels – Rabbi Naftali Haleva, the son of Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Haleva, rejected claims he and his father are responsible for grave desecration at three Istanbul cemeteries.

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    “The cemetery belongs to the Jewish community in Turkey and we know perfectly well how to take care of the serious state of neglect,” Rabbi Naftali told a reporter from Kikar HaShabbat at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Brussels, where the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) held a kashrus conference this week.

    “The site is located on the border between the Muslims and the Jews, and it’s a very sensitive area. Anyone who doesn’t live in Turkey won’t have any understanding of the matter.”

    As VIN News revealed in an article posted earlier this week, Israeli journalist Shaul Schiff recently filed a suit in a London beis din charging Rabbi Haleva and his son have been directly responsible for extreme instances of grave desecration over the course of several years. According to a prominent rov familiar with the case, a Muslim guard was even posted at Ortakoy Cemetery to prevent visitors from documenting conditions there.

    The cemetery is at least three hundred years old and the graves are terraced, which weakens the soil over time, Rabbi Naftali Haleva explained.

    He claims Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has been kept abreast of the situation. “A few weeks ago my father told Rav Amar he plans to close the cemetery because any refurbishing would cause greater grave desecration since the slightest touch at the site brings out bones. They have to be left alone to rest.”


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    10 Comments
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    Askupeh
    Askupeh
    14 years ago

    He says that the “slightest touch at the site brings out bones”. Who has a need to touch any of these Kevorim? Are they trying to build something there?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    This is no one’s business other than Harav Haleva, Shlita who is a big tzadik and talmid chacham who is respected by all the great rabbonim in eretz yisrol included the gadol hador, Rav Amar, Shlita.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    i just came back yesterday from tukey and i am there few times a year on business and whenever i am there i visit the cemetary to visit the grave of RABBI NAFTOLI KATZ THE SMICHATH CHACHOMIM and i can tell you first hand that all the rumors are not true and are lies they keep it with very big respect they just build a new small house for LEVAJAS to be made to make hespedim and they made toillets and water sinks to wash the hands very beutifull and with big respect like the sefardim do in makom kodosh
    and this was not build on known graves it was built by the house where the keeper of the cemetary leaves and the army base

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    to post number 8
    you are posting a great LIE
    I have been there many times, and have seen many grave stones smashed in a big heap to make way for a wide road paved through the cemetery,
    I was there when police where called by the rosh hakahal to try to confiscate photographers equipment, from a group of visitors from usa.
    this is a terrible matter which anyone can verify himself by travelling there and visiting the cemetry.

    el turko
    el turko
    14 years ago

    just next to an army base.
    Here we go.
    You just CAN NOT dig the story anymore.

    oy wey if you do …