Ultra-Orthodox cabinet members criticised the move, with interior minister Aryeh Deri saying: “For all the years of its existence, the state of Israel has conducted itself based on traditional Judaism”.
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The plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City had forbidden non-Orthodox services, causing women who led prayers to be arrested and activists to campaign for equal prayer rights for years.
Progressives celebrated Sunday’s Cabinet vote in favor of building a new $9 million plaza for mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall as a historic, formal recognition of the Reform and Conservative movements that dominate American Jewish life but are largely sidelined in Israel. More liberal Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism are dominant in the USA.
While men are permitted to sing prayers and wear Jewish prayer shawls in their section, until 2013 female worshippers were not allowed to do so..
In a statement regarding the recent compromise, Women of the Wall remarked that “the vision of the new section of the Kotel is a physical and conceptual space open to all forms of Jewish prayer”.
Agudath Israel said only the maintenance of the standard of Jewish religious tradition has allowed Jews of all types for decades to pray side by side at the Western Wall, a “minor miracle” that’s perhaps unique in the world.
The Wailing Wall is considered the only standing remnant of the complex that once housed the Jewish Biblical Temple, the holiest site in Judaism.
The Cabinet’s decision will lead to the construction of a separate and permanent holy place for different prayers where the temporary platform is located, as reported by The Exponent Telegram.
The controversial plan is also opposed by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, who announced they intend to block funding for it. The site is now divided by gender. The new prayer area will be accessible through the same entrance as the gender-segregated areas, Sunday’s agreement stipulates.
Many commentators have seen the dispute over the Western Wall and the rules governing it as part of a larger struggle within Judaism and Israeli society between ultra-Orthodox Jews and non-Orthodox elements of society.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemns remarks by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers against Reform and Conservative Jewry.
“It is sad that instead of bringing unity, Levin divides and incites against one of the most important streams in Judaism”.
In approving this plan, the state acknowledges women’s full equality and autonomy at the Kotel and the imperative of freedom of choice in Judaism in Israel.
While the new prayer space is a partnership between religiously liberal Jews and the government, Schonfeld said, “we don’t view this as something the government is doing for the Diaspora”. Israel denies Palestinian allegations it plans to open the compound to non-Muslim prayer.
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