KOHANIM WARNED OF FLIGHTS LEAVING OR LANDING
AT BEN GURION AIRPORT AT NIGHT
Kohanim are being warned by Rabbanim to schedule flights to and from Israel that take off or land only during the daylight hours.
Flights that take off or land during the night hours are navigated automatically rather than visually, and need longer leeway. They therefore take a route which flies directly over the Cholon cemetery. Although the kohanim don’t actually enter the cemetery, the halacha is that an ohel zaruk, a moving enclosed domain (such as an airplane) does not separate the kohain from the tumah of the cemetery, even at high altitudes.
Daytime flights use a different route and are not affected by this problem.
For further information on the matter and to receive updates on changes in the planes’ routes that may affect kohanim, please call Rabbi Yochanan Lombard of the Taharas Kohanim organization, which is working to find a solution to the problem. He can be reached at 972-50-416-2026 or email