Rebbe in a Box

By Ezra Glinter May 19, 2010

Praying by the graves of long-deceased holy men is a time-honored Jewish practice, especially on the recent holiday of Lag b’Omer, when thousands flock to the resting place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, in Meron. But what about the Jews who are kohanim, descendants of Aharon, and are not allowed to come into contact with the dead, or even enter a cemetery?

Until now, they were forced to keep their distance. But one rebbe, the leader of the Hasidic Toldos Aharon sect, has come up with an — ahem — outside the box solution. According to the Israeli website matzav.com, the rebbe found a way around the prohibition by traveling to Meron in a wooden crate that, loaded on the back of a pickup truck, served as a barrier between him and the ritual impurity of the graves. Now that’s traveling in (kosher) style!

Ezra Glinter is the critic-at-large of the Forward.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO