Hammer Seeking Compromise Between Rabbis and Archaeologists over Dig at the City of David

The month-long controversy over the archaeological excavation in the City of David near the Western Wall between religious circles and archaeologists appeared to simmer down this weekend as Education Minister Zevulun Hammer indicated that he was seeking a compromise between the two groups.

Hammer, a member of the National Religious Party, met with the two Chief Rabbis and with the Israel Archaeological Council, which is the highest scientific authority on the subject, to work out a compromise solution. This followed a ruling by the rabbis last week that the City of David site is an ancient Jewish cemetery and that no excavations are to take place there. Further meetings are scheduled this week between Hammer, the Chief Rabbis and the Council.

Discussing the controversy in a TV interview, Hammer said he doubted whether there were indeed old Jewish graves at the site. He said that the ruling of the two rabbis last week should not be taken “too seriously.” However, out of respect to the highest rabbinical authority, Hammer said he felt that a compromise should be reached which would be satisfactory to them as well as to the archaeologists.

ELEMENTS OF THE COMPROMISE PLAN

However, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s initial reaction indicated a rigid approach to the compromise idea. He told reporters that he refused to contemplate a compromise because “there can be no compromise about halacha.” Furthermore, he said, Prof. Yigael Yadin, former Deputy Premier and a leading archaeologist, still has not returned the remains of 50 warriors in the Bar Kochba campaign against the Romans (132-135 BCE) which were discovered by Yadin 25 years ago in caves near the Dead Sea.

Goren charged that then Premier David Ben Gurion had promised him that the remains of the Bar Kochba warriors would be given a proper Jewish burial and that a monument would be erected at the site. “But the skeletons are still scattered in laboratories around the world where who knows what people are doing to them,” Goren said. He stated that as long as this affair was not settled, he would have no confidence in archaeologists.

The Knesset is scheduled to convene Wednesday for a special session during its recess to discuss the excavation at the City of David. The session was called at the demand of more than 30 Labor Alignment Knesset members and agreed to according to Knesset rules.

BEGIN URGES RESPECT FOR CHIEF RABBIS

Meanwhile, Premier Menachem Begin requested that Cabinet Ministers and Knesset members scheduled to take part in the debate show respect for the Chief Rabbis. His request came at today’s Cabinet meeting after several Ministers criticized the rabbis for taking an inflexible position in the controversy.

Deputy Premier Simcha Ehrlich reportedly said that the Chief Rabbis, “and particularly one of them” (referring to Goren), were directly responsible for the unrest among secular elements in the population regarding the rabbis’ interference in the work of the archaeologists at the City of David dig. At the same time, Hammer met today with Yadin who said he was prepared to make efforts to trace the remains of the Bar Kochba campaign warriors.