Rav Yitzchok Yosef, the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, ruled this week that residents of the Ramot neighborhood of Yerushalayim should once again read the Megillah on the 15th of Adar, in accordance with the custom observed throughout Yerushalayim.

During his weekly shiur, Rav Yosef addressed the annual halachic questions that arise ahead of Purim regarding the city’s boundaries and the proper date for Megillah reading in outlying neighborhoods. He clarified that areas such as Ramot are considered fully part of Yerushalayim for this purpose.

In his remarks, Rav Yosef highlighted the efforts of Yerushalayim Deputy and Acting Mayor Tzvika Cohen, who arranged for several caravans to be placed in open areas in order to create a continuous residential link between Ramot and the main urban expanse of the walled city.

According to halachah, for a distant neighborhood to be regarded as part of a walled city with respect to reading the Megillah on the 15th of Adar, there must be an unbroken residential continuity. The placement of the caravans establishes that continuity, thereby ensuring that residents of Ramot can celebrate Purim and fulfill the mitzvah of Megillah reading on the fifteenth, in line with the ruling of Rav Ovadia Yosef.

In previous years, Cohen worked together with Yerushalayim Mayor Moshe Lion to resolve the issue of residential continuity. The solution, approved by professional authorities, involved positioning caravans in the open spaces between Ramot and neighborhoods already contiguous with Yerushalayim, thereby formally establishing Ramot’s status as one of the city’s neighborhoods.

The continued placement of the caravans at the initiative of the deputy mayor ensures that this year as well, thousands of Yerushalayimresidents will be able to observe the mitzvos of Purim properly, with Ramot residents celebrating on the 15th of Adar together with the rest of Yerushalayim.

{Matzav.com}