TEL AVIV – Israel’s government on Sunday approved a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall, putting to rest the decades-long fight between Women of the Wall and Israel’s haredi Orthodox religious establishment.
Advertisement
More liberal streams of Judaism, which outside of Israel have larger followings than Orthodoxy, chafe at the restriction. “We heartily congratulate those who worked so tenaciously for the right to express their Judaism at the Western Wall, including the Women at the Wall and the Conservative and Reform Movements in Israel”. Most religious rites take place in the men’s section in accordance with centuries-old Orthodox standards that hold sway in Israel.
The Western Wall, known as the Kotel in Hebrew, is one of the holiest sites in Judaism because it is the closest site at which Jews can pray to where they believe the Jewish Temple stood 2,000 years ago.
This decision provides for a third prayer space at the Wailing Wall, the holiest site of Judaism, in addition to those already booked separately for men and women and run by ultra-Orthodox Jews.
According to the government plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, Israel will build a new plaza for mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall, adjacent to the Orthodox prayer plaza but separate from it.
“While I know that this is a delicate issue, I think that this is a fair and creative solution”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Sunday.
“The vision of the new section of the Kotel is a physical and conceptual space open to all forms of Jewish prayer”, Women of the Wall said in a statement.
Some supporters of Women of the Wall have vowed not to abandon the Orthodox section of the Kotel, as agreed to in the government plan.
The deal was necessary, all parties say, because the ultra-Orthodox religious authorities who oversee the main, northern section of the Western Wall compound refuse all but the strictest interpretation of Jewish law.
The announcement was seen as a victory for liberal and reform Jewish groups who had been campaigning for women’s inclusion in the men’s praying space. Ultra-Orthodox members of the Israeli governing coalition opposed the decision, and the Cabinet resolution avoided any overt mention of the Reform and Conservative movements.
“Hate speech of any kind is unacceptable whether it’s directed at Jewish or Muslim people”, the statement said.
Anat Hoffman, one of the group’s leaders, said that after “years of abuse” they had finally “accomplished this extraordinary first step”.
The Western Wall, the last vestige of the second Jewish Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, is the symbolic meditation site in Judaism.
“We continue to seek equal funding”, she said.
Advertisement
Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said the plan required compromise “all along the way”, from all sides, “but at the end of the day we agreed”.
