Chabad Wins Court Order to Stop Construction at Chevron Cemetery

The Yerushalayim District Court accepted the petition of the Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad of Eretz Yisroel and issued an interim order requiring an immediate halt to all work at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Chevron, in a ruling that Chabad sources are calling a major victory for kevod hameis.

The decision comes as we read and learn Parshas Chayei Sara this week, which recounts Avraham Avinu’s purchase of Me’aras Hamachpela in Chevron, the first Jewish-owned land in Eretz Yisroel. Thousands of years later, the Jewish people’s eternal bond with the resting places of Chevron is once again being defended, and the timing is hard to miss.

As reported earlier by Anash.org, the Beis Din filed the petition several weeks ago, charging that construction, paving, and earthworks were desecrating graves in Chelkas Chabad, the historic Ashkenazi section of the cemetery that served the Chassidic community in the city for some 170 years.

Among those buried there are Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel, the daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe and granddaughter of the Alter Rebbe, as well as former Chevron rabbanim Rabbi Shimon Menashe Chaikin and Rabbi Hillel Moshe Meisels Gelbstein.

According to the petition, an earthen ramp was built through the plot to bring caravans onto an adjacent site, and it passes directly over graves.

Chabad sources say the rabbonim and their legal representative, Rabbi Yitzchok Dov Gelbstein, whose grandfather is buried in the cemetery, approached the relevant parties again and again and tried to resolve the matter quietly before turning to the court. Even after the petition was filed, including during a recent tour of the site with rabbonim and officials, understandings were reached and then violated, and the work continued.

Today, in a dramatic court decision, the court agreed with the Beis Din. In his ruling, the judge found that the halachic and archaeological opinions submitted by the Beis Din establish a real concern that graves lie beneath and alongside the ramp.

He wrote that preventing irreversible harm to the graves, to kevod hameis, and to the sanctity of the cemetery outweighs the development of recreational gardens and temporary changes in land use.

The court also ordered the Chevron local council to pay costs.

The court sharply criticized the Chevron municipal administration, which allegedly carried out work and set up a playground despite its commitment to maintain the status quo. The State also supported freezing the situation until the matter is fully reviewed.

The order is interim, and the petition itself has not yet been decided. Among Chabad chassidim, there is hope that the entire saga will soon be resolved and that all the structures that desecrated the cemetery will be removed.