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Chief Rabbinate Bars Archaeological Digging Near Wailing Wall

February 21, 1968
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A request by a noted Israeli archaeologist to excavate near the site of the south wall of the Temple in Old Jerusalem was turned down by the Chief Rabbinate today. Prof. B. Mazer, a former president of the Hebrew University, was told that he couldn’t dig because he might inadvertently enter the “Holy of Holies” where only High Priests were allowed in Biblical times. All Jewish religious sites in Israel are under the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate.

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