Entrance to kohanim [Jewish priests] forbidden
I found this curious sign at the Haifa Educational Zoo, and I'm pretty sure that Israel is the only country in the world in whose zoos you will find warnings of this sort, aimed at preventing a violation of halakha, or Jewish law. Other than the usual caged animals, the Haifa Zoo also hosts little museums and exhibits (which look rather old-fashioned), at the entrance to one of which I stumbled upon this sign and observed an interesting scene.
A group of school children were invited into the room, but after reading the sign which forbids entrance to kohanim, i.e., descendants of priests in the Jewish Temple, some of the kids started shouting to the guide that their classmate wasn't allowed in since he was a kohen. The boy, who looked about 13, seemed confused. He didn't know whether to follow his classmates into the room or not, and kind of hung around the door. After having settled everyone else down, the guide looked at the poor kid who was the source of great disruption, and said, "You're either in or you're out!"
After darting in and out of the door a few more times, he finally decided to stay.
I think what confused him the most was that he wasn't really sure who was supposed to forbid him to enter the room: the zoo authorities (and hence the guide), he himself, G-d, or someone else.
When I peaked into the room, I understood why the sign had been posted. Most of the room's display consisted of stuffed, mounted animals such as birds and desert mammals. However, there was one old display case with human fetuses in formaldehyde, which obviously caused very strong reactions in the visitors.
Although the rules derived from the Torah are complex, in brief, dead bodies and body parts are considered ritually defiling and therefore kohanim are not allowed to be close to them.
7 comments:
When I peaked into the room, I understood why the sign had been posted. Most of the room's display consisted of stuffed, mounted animals such as birds and desert mammals. However, there was one old display case with human fetuses in formaldehyde, which obviously caused very strong reactions in the visitors.
I think I am missing something. Is floating human fetuses in formaldehyde ok according to Halakha?
Zionism is racism would have sure said it's ok as long as these are Palestinian fetuses and would have written their names into his notepad...
:D :D
I would not think that it was in accordance with Halakhah, but as long as they're there, cohanim should enter.... I wonder if the haredim know about this?
Hello, this is Criticker speaking:
Forget halakha, what are human fetuses doing in a Zoo period?
Criticker
Hmmmm
I think that this is because .... you know, Darvin and the stuff. Another very halakhical concept.
Carmia's point was that the zoo pays attention to certain details of halakha, such as the prohibition against kohanim coming into contact with ritual impurity of dead human bodies.
The fetuses were part of a side-exhibit / museum.
I would rather say that the title and the first line were misleading. The zoo does not follow Halakha. They just have a warning for Kohanim, because it's a big deal for Kohanim to be in such a room. Other than that, there is little Halakha there.
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