Israel’s first secular burials took place at a cemetery in Beersheba. The burials of Ya’akov and Hannah Ravervi came after their bodies had been stored at a medical institute for six months while secular rights advocates wrangled with Orthodox religious officials over where the burial plots would be located. In what had been seen as a victory for advocates of religious pluralism, the Supreme Court ruled in 1996 against the Orthodox monopoly over burials and ordered the Religious Affairs Ministry to set aside space in Jewish cemeteries for alternative burials.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
