The Kever Rachel Reclamation Society has turned to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to assist in making improvements in access to the holy site as well as facilitating tefilos at the site. In the letter to Rivlin officials point out that we are now in Elul, followed by the yomim tovim and the yahrzeit on 11 Cheshvan and during this period, over 250,000 people will visit the tziyun. They ask Rivlin to call for an urgent Knesset session on the matter as well as the establishment of a Knesset lobby to focus on the needs of the site.

They cite the need for an expanded parking area, improved access to accommodate the many wishing to visit, and this means appropriate security to accompany these expansions. At present, the situation is difficult on the best of days as vehicles are bottle-necked into the narrow access road and parking area. A special emphasis must be put on addressing the ezras noshim and the need for more space.

Kever Rachel must be recognized as a “national heritage” site and this includes an appropriate budget for an underground roadway from the Gilo checkpoint, ‘Checkpoint 300’, as well as an underground parking for hundreds of vehicles. A new access road would provide walking to the site as well; an impossibility under current realities.

A philanthropist from the United States has made a major overhaul possible, and the reclamation society is now calling on the government to declare the site a “national heritage” location and thereby recognize its central role to Am Yisrael and allocate the appropriate funds towards maintaining and expanding the site that holds a special significance to Am Yisrael.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)