If someone doesn't want to use it, they can request to be taken to another hospital.

It *is* comforting to know that God is the ultimate judge. People do get away with many things here on Earth, but they will not be able to avoid God's judgement.

what do you mean , "ask to be taken to another hospital"?! an "emergency room" is for emergencies. in an emergency, even a minute of extra delay can mean the difference between life and death. for heart attack, for instance, there is a significant difference in the chances of survival between 2 and 3 minutes' response time. so unless you can plan your heart attack (or terrorist attack) in advance, so you can be near your preferred hospital, asking to be taken anywhere but the nearest emergency room can be (unnecessarily) fatal. and so can locating an emergency room based on "coalitional considerations".

Like father, like son. He is trying to teach Rabbi Litzman Torah? Like Lapid knows the first thing about Halacha.

-- because it violates their religious beliefs, then they can go to another hospital. I'm in favor of building it. They shouldn't prevent that ER being constructed to serve people who are willing to be taken there.

I'm sure even though the secular Israelis will give him many mandates for the begining he will end just like his father, Meretz and Avoda.

Lapid has to decide to either make commentary or enter politics.

Torah also forbids consulting with the dead, or any cults od death worship. What the haredim are saying is that an ancient graveyard od idolaters is more important than saving the lives of Israelis. The typical response of #4 is also a fallacy. this isnt ant anti-religious artricle. It is a religious article. The anti religious article was the one signed by Litzman. Just becasue he is an orthodox rabbi, doesnt mean he observes the Torah.

This is now the second article today (MK Khenin) were the self loathing, religious hating self righteous elite quotes the Torah. It is very convenient to use the Torah only when it suits oneself, but not living to it accordingly. On the other hand mayby Lapid and his cohorts are against their will, getting closer to what is the true essence of our reason of returning here. Who knows even Lapid can make Tsuvah, it is never to late.

that is what we call...... hypocrite saving one live suppersede the torah ..do you mean only "jewish" life sir .. it should be like ours ,human lives ..

Yair-you bring forth the voice of reason and moderation. The country needs you to help save it from itself.

to reuven, the decision was more a political one than a religious one. i agree 100% percent with YAIR LAPID. they managed to move all the graves when we left /gaza & area why cant they do it again. i have a problem with '' religious '' people who think they know better than others.

Torah DOES order cancellation of all commands - except idolatry, incest, and murder of another - to save ANY life. Therefore, Yair is here right and Litzman is WRONG. BUT! I refuse to believe that there was no middle way, that this whole mess could be simply bypassed if everybody dropped a part of their precious EGO. From the articles I read here and even many comments, I see that there is an strong, ongoing struggle in Eretz between religious and secular, and the greatest part of this struggle is fueled not with real arguments, but with big EGOS, on both sides. And, of course, inability to give up part of their demands to get other part. Essentially, consensus is seen as a sign of weakness, and not as a necessary fact of life (this reminds me on Balkans, they have this mentality). So let us not forget that, yes, Zionism is rooted in Torah, but it was given to Hertzog and Ben Gurion to create Israel, not to Maimonides and Aria haKadosh.

SEPERATE RELIGION & STATE NOW!!!!!!!

Isn't it interesting to see someone who is totally ignorant in any aspect of Halacha showing off his stupidity. Honestly if I'd like to know what Judaism comands you to do with graves I wouldn't ask someone like Lapid!!! Go study and then we'll talk you fool.

Just because Lapid is secular, doesn't make him wrong. Besides, the psak on these pagan bones has little to do with Torah, and mainly is about the struggle between Haredi world view, and anythign that might challenege the supreme authority. Hence, a totally irrational decision, at the cost of lives and money, simply to show who is "boss".

Hmmmm Firstly I didnt know that he had any opinion on G-ds justice nor would I have ever believed that he believed in it Just because you have no respect for the dead and prefer to be cremated having your ashes spread over the oceans this does not mean that we the Jewish people share that view. I havent heard you complaining about the money the government allocated to other causes in such a severe "blood on your hands" blah blah way before. Could this be your hatred for religion and charedim rearing its head? Of course it is Please Yair read this article to yourself in the mirror and see if you believe anything you said. I have a feeling that you are hiding something and not too deep down either.

Since when are dry bones more important than the living? Prophesize these bones, Israel, and BUILD that much-needed hospital EXACTLY where it was originally planned. Way too often, good things start to happen in Israel, but soon turn bad because of small minds and big mouths. JUST DO IT.

Well said! Would that you would run for Knesset!

The decision to move the ER was not really a Halachic decision; many scholars of Halacha say that the graves could have been moved. However, what we have is a pure political maneuver towards forcing an ultraorthodox theocracy on Israel. The ultraorthodox are becoming more stringent in their postulations according to Halacha. This minority has to be reigned in and the non ultras must make their voices heard. The best way is to separate religion from the state, Israel should be a state for all Jews not just for ultraorthodox Jews. Preserving our fragile democracy is a full time job that requires all of us to guard our freedom.

Very good Yair. I have a simple solution. Move the hospital synagogue into the parking lot and convert the present one into a secure ER, an integral part of the hospital. Yeah, right, fat chance---unless you pay them off.

They're delaying the building of a strongly needed ER room by at least two years over some ancient graves. The ER room will be in a less convenient location. Furthermore, if they find more graves, they might have to relocate again. Follow halacha! But, Pikuach Nefesh Docheh Shabbat (saving a life "pushes aside" Shabbat). Life-critical decisions should be made by those who understand that saving lives is more important that being "mehadrin d'mehadrin" (strict). Find halachic authorities that understand this, like the late Tzitz Eliezer and the current Rav Yuval Cherlow and Rav Eliezer Melamed. Get their halachic decisions.

He has shown time and again that he hasnt turned a new leaf. Nothing he says or is concerned about concerns me or the Jewish people. Yair you are welcomed to come to Canada where the goyim will teach you a thing or two of why you need to have a "Jewish Country", till them talk to the hand.

Thank you. As a committed Jew who has lived in Israel twice for over a year and frequently visited, I deplore the current coalition with Lieberman, Yishai and co. They have squandered the sympathy bought with 2,000 years and 6,000,000 lives and made Israel a pariah state. Keep up your good work. A new subsciber to YNetNews

...but dream on. Even during the rotation government of the 1980s, the two major didn't have the balls to cut the fundamentalists out of it.

The only way graves can be moved according to religious law is if their resting place would be in danger. In Gaza, we knew for a fact that Hamas and others would have dug up those graves and violated our dead. That's the type of people they are. In this case, that threat is not there. It's a decision on our part as Jews whether to move them or not, and if in the case of progress, the grave location always wins, especially ancient ones. In this case, I DO believe the religious know better. They consider the sanctity of death as well as life, while seculars think along rational, practical lines. That's why the religious are so involved in ZAKA, which they consider the ultimate mitzvah. Neither is bad, but the secular thinking is not proper at this point. If it was, many cemeteries would be paved over simply because it would help some hi-tech guy get to work faster in the morning.

Apparently, you forget the many, many Arabs lives saved by Jewish doctors, in Jewish hospitals, violating all Jewish laws because saving one life, any life, is considered the ultimate mitzvah. We've seen your kinds lynch someone then dip your hands in blood, and your leaders claim that you love death more than life. Consider this - in Haiti Jewish doctors worked through Shabbat in order to save lives...and I believe that almost all Haitians are non-Jewish.... The only thing the "Pals" contributed was a demand for more attention and money, i.e. jealousy and greed. Shameful!

Ben, you're either ignorant or just plain blind if you think its the current coalition that has lessened sympathy towards Israel. It was the winning of the 1967 war that started us down that road. With several Democrat US presidents who sided with despots and the growing thirst for oil, Israel was quickly being set up for the sacrificial lamb. One thing that Israel today is trying to move away from, is validity through sympathy. Israel doesn't exist because of the Holocaust, nor because we poor Jews were in exile. It exists because it must, it exist because it is justice and the natural homeland of Jews. Go check articles from years past. Europeans and Arabs have been using said "sympathy" to delegitimize us as a people and our State. What Lieberman and the coalition have done is help Israel grow a pair...something some people, especially liberals, don't like. I support us being strong.