Leading haredi rabbis are protesting an initiative by the Tiberias municipality to remove separation barriers along the city's waterfront, near the main access road to the tomb of the Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
In a sharp letter, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch launched a public campaign, banning followers from traveling or walking along the route. Joining his campaign are members of the Eida Haharedit rabbinical court in Jerusalem and the rabbis of Tiberias.
The controversy began with the opening of a new public beach along the shoreline near lower Tiberias, on the main road connecting the ancient cemetery to the tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes, without any separation barriers or even basic changing facilities.
As a result, the main parking lot, located across the road, has led to what critics describe as disturbing scenes, with bathers repeatedly crossing the main road, turning the entire area into what they call a serious spiritual hazard..
The city's rabbis, led by Rabbi Avraham Halberstam, son of the Sanz Rebbe and rabbi of the Sanz community in Tiberias, initially attempted to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue with the relevant authorities.
When those efforts failed, the matter was brought before Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, who took up the cause. After urgent discussions in which the full scope of the matter was presented to him, Rabbi Sternbuch instructed that an uncompromising public campaign be launched.
"Everyone must take care not to pass along this road, which is a place of impurity and promiscuity, as the city's rabbis and the rabbinical court have already warned," he wrote in his letter, which was revealed by Kikar Hashabbat. "There is another route by which one can reach the tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes without passing through there. Likewise, Torah institutions and girls' schools should not rent facilities in this area, since the entire location is presumed to be [spiritually] dangerous. The severity of the prohibition against passing there is very great, and some say it falls under the category of 'be killed rather than transgress' by entering a place of impurity."
Rabbi Sternbuch concluded with a stern warning to city officials: "And to those responsible for this, I call to correct this matter, and they should fear for their lives lest the wrath of G-d befall them. Every individual should pour out his heart like water over the pain of the Divine Presence."
At the same time, members of the Eida Haharedit rabbinical court issued a separate letter; the rabbis of Tiberias joined the appeal, signing a sweeping prohibition against using the road, based on the halakhic (pertaining to Jewish law -ed.) principle that "there is an alternative route."