MADRID (EJP)---The remains of 158 skeletons from the 14th century Jewish cemetery in Tarrega, Spain, have been handed over to the Jewish community in Barcelona to be reburied in the local Collserola cemetery.

The transfer ceremony took place on July 30 in the Urgel Regional Museum in Tarrega, with the presence of the Mayor, Joan Amezaga, Dominique Tomasov Blinder, representative of the Heritage Committee of the Jewish communities of Barcelona and Catalonia and Josep Gallart, regional director of the archeology department.

The 158 small boxes containing the remains of the skeletons found at the Maset archeological excavation site in Tarrega were loaded on a special truck for their transportation to Barcelona. This happened under the strict supervision of Rabbi David Kolmasovitz, an international specialist in Jewish rituals regarding cemeteries no longer in use.

Dominique Tomasov Blinder explained that after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, their cemeteries were no longer used and were left unprotected. With the growth of the cities, many are now being rediscovered. He stated that this would be a good time to explain the significance that they have for the Jewish people.

Tomasov thanked the Tarrega city council and the Generalitat or Catalonian regional government for their understanding of his request for the return of the remains.

He asked that the cemeteries not be excavated since they do not have an expiration date. “A Jewish cemetery is the same whether a person was buried there yesterday or 2000 years ago”, he said.

“We want to discuss this issue in order to determine how to make an inventory of all the cemeteries existing in Spain, and ask that they be treated with due respect. We request from the authorities cooperation and understanding,” he added.

While Tomasov expressed the Sephardic community’s distress on learning of the excavation of their ancestors’ cemetery, the archaeologists who had made the discovery voiced their opposition to the transfer of the remains, since this would prevent them from studying their finds in depth and completing their research.

Tarrega’s Mayor said that “the city council has complied with the resolution adopted by the Generalitat, because the excavation, disinterment and study of the remains are the sole responsibility of the regional government.”

He added that the excavations would continue to respect the agreements that have been made with the Jewish community with regard to any other remains that may be discovered in the future.