page_title: Prohibition of Kohen defilement by the dead
section_title: Chabad Ohel
hierarchical_section_title: Prohibition of Kohen defilement by the dead / Rabbinical application / Cemeteries / Chabad Ohel
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram depicting distance requirement of kohen to tombstone to avoid halachic prohibition עברית: תמונה עם צייור לתאר אי-רחבת הכניסה על פי ההלכה המחייבת כהן להתרחק ארבעה טפחים מקבר -במקרה שיש גדר בגובה של עשרה טפחים. אם חסר גדר של עשרה טפחים, יש לכהן להתרחק ארבע אמות מן הקבר.
context_page_description: The prohibition of Kohen defilement to the dead is the commandment to a Jewish priest not to come in direct contact with, or be in the same enclosed roofed space as a dead human body.
context_section_description: The  Chabad Ohel in the Montefiore Cemetery, Cambria Heights, Queens, New York, resting place of the previous two Chabad Rebbes, presents a problem to a visiting kohen. 
  Usual visitors access the Ohel via a walkway that is fenced off from the other graves in the cemetery, creating a separate enclosure in which visitors pass but lacking the minimal four tefach requirement on either side of pathway.
  Thus, even though the Ohel itself is open to the sky to eliminate problems of tum'at met in an enclosure the kohen is unable to gain entry to the actual ohel without coming within four tefachim of the tombstones located on both sides of walkway.  
  As halacha mandates a Kohen keep a distance of 12.59 inches (320 mm) (four tefachim) away from a tombstone (provided it is fenced in, and 75.59 inches (1,920 mm) inches if the tombstone is not fenced it).
caption: Image depiction of minimal four tefach requirement at pathway entry to ohel
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