Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior has ruled that the pages distributed in
synagogues on Friday nights, dealing with the weekly Torah portion and other
religious and social topics, should be recycled instead of buried in a
repository (geniza). The adjudication by Lior, one of the more influential
national religious rabbis, was written some two months ago, but will appear in
Friday’s edition of the Kiryat Arba religious council’s publication.
“The
problem of geniza has recently become worse due to the abundance of materials
being printed, and the difficulty to collect everything, which causes the
problem of Torah words being scattered around and desecrated,” Lior wrote.
“Therefore, the religious council has decided to collect such materials
accumulated for geniza in order to recycle them and prevent a greater
desecration,” he explained, noting that such a direction exists in Jewish law.
“I hope the public will collaborate for the dignity of the holy writings, to
prevent desecration and to keep our city clean,” Lior wrote.