The building of the Supreme Rabbinical Court near the Wailing Wall in Old Jerusalem has been condemned as unsafe and will be torn down despite protests from the rabbinate. Part of the structure caved in under last week’s snow, damaging records and other documents which the rabbinate insisted on keeping in the building oven though it was declared unsafe by city engineers three months ago. The rabbis refused to move until other quarters were found for them inside the Old City walls.
The building housing the court was built during the Jordanian occupation of East Jerusalem and had served as a school. It was the first building inside the walls to be taken over by Jews after the 1967 Six-Day War. It stands close to a site of archaeological excavations that are expected to yield antiquities dating from King Herod’s reign.
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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.
