- Kohanim avoid touching the dead
- Science Museum’ has several body-parts which fall within this category and therefore a Cohen cannot enter the museum
- Council planners ultimately rejected the proposal, citing the “size, design, and position” of the secondary roof and the “irreparable harm” it would cause the Grade-II listed building
LONDON:The Chelsea and Kensington council’s planning committee has rejected a multi-million pound proposal from a Jewish religious sect to use the London Underground. The proposal included installing a “secondary roof” at the entrance of South Kensington station to create a degree of separation from the nearby Science Museum.
As a result of the council’s decision, members of the Kohanim community are unable to use the South Kensington station. The Kohanim have strict religious guidelines that prohibit them from coming into contact with a deceased person, even if they are not under the same roof . As the Science Museum shares the same roof as the underground, the Kohanim cannot use “the whole underground line that runs past or connects to that entrance.
The planning statement for the proposed “secondary roof” at the entrance of South Kensington station stated that it would break up the “one roof phenomenon” and allow those who are currently unable to use the Underground to be able to use it. The structure would have the following words etched into it at eye-level: “A Cohen (a person of priestly lineage) is forbidden to allow himself to become contaminated with negative spiritual forces, such as those emanating from a corpse. One of the ways of these forces being transmitted is by being under the same roof as the corpse, and therefore a Cohen must avoid entering any covered area containing one. ‘Science Museum’ has several body-parts which fall within this category and therefore a Cohen cannot enter the museum. However, any protrusions on the outside of the building which are connected to the covered area of the museum can carry and extend the negative spirit and can prevent a Cohen accessing not only this station but any underground station as they all connect to each other. The device attached to this doorway breaks the connection with the museum, thereby permitting a Cohen to enter the station”.
However, the proposal faced objections from locals who cited the “inharmonious” design of the secondary roof and its “alien addition” to the Grade II listed building. The Knightsbridge Association also criticized the proposal as “incongruous” and “out of keeping with the listed aspects of the original entrance to the tunnel” . Council planners ultimately rejected the proposal, citing the “size, design, and position” of the secondary roof and the “irreparable harm” it would cause the Grade-II listed building. They added that the “public benefits would not outweigh the harm” .
According to the Science Museum website, the museum houses 4,351 human remains from various countries, including “skeletal material, mummies, artefacts incorporating remains and slides” .
