A team of workers began to carry out Today, excavation work is underway near the grave site of Rabbi Yosef Zacharias in the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem, using a bulldozer and equipment vehicles. This, In the presence of the worshippers, and under the auspices and supervision of members of the Hevra Kadisha.
At first, worshippers, who come to the site every day to pray and prostrate, thought that the work was being done as part of a plan to erect a tent over the grave. However, when they inquired about the work, they learned from the work managers that they were working to expand the cemetery complex. The workers further explained that they were working to prepare a base for an additional plot of graves to be annexed to the crowded complex.
Some of the worshippers raised a voice of protest, which soon turned into a small demonstration, while one of them lay on the ground, clapping and shouting about the "disrespect of the late rabbi," as he put it. Police forces, called to the scene by members of the Habra Kadisha, removed the mocha from the compound, in an attempt to restore peace to the cemetery.
But it seems that the peace will not last long. In the court of the Rabbi Zach'l, who are mostly from the Sephardic sector, It seems that the winds of resistance are expected to be renewed, due to differences of opinion and perspective regarding the management and the attitude of the family members responsible for the place.
Sources involved in the tomb saga claim that things look completely different. According to the police, the work is being done in coordination with the Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, and with family members. In light of this, there are two possible reasons for the technical move at the site: Either the cemetery management is preparing additional graves around the rabbi's grave, in order to earn high sums of money, due to the demand and importance. Or it is a plan by the family members, according to which they will prepare a plot of graves, ostensibly sell the graves, and thus be able - after a full purchase - to turn the plot of land into private property, which will allow a permanent tent to be erected on it, without external objections and bureaucratic obstacles.
The Yosef family responds that they know to whom the graves were sold, and that it was not the family members who purchased them.
Since the rabbi's passing, his grave has become a pilgrimage center, even on Shabbat. A question also recently came up on the desk of a Jerusalem posak regarding the entry of women to the site, which involves mixing and lack of regular separation. The posak responded to this: "For the sake of the spirit of Israel, it is not appropriate for women to go up to the grave.".
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