Correspondents say the dispute over the wall became a symbol of the greater tensions in Israeli society between ultra-Orthodox Jews, who abide by a very strict interpretation of Jewish law, and more modern elements of Judaism.
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Israel’s cabinet approved the creation of a permanent space for non-Orthodox prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, under pressure from American Jewry and liberal Jewish denominations that have long chafed at Orthodox control of the holy site.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky previously proposed plans for a single entrance to the Western Wall plaza from which worshippers can access an egalitarian prayer area. But it didn’t require them to give up any actual power, and it will be built separately from their prayer plaza where their rituals will remain intact.
“I know this is a sensitive topic, but I think it is an appropriate solution, a creative solution”, Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s Cabinet meeting.
“The most complex problems usually require such solutions”, he said.
The Jewish Federations of North America, where liberal streams of Judaism are prevalent, said the mixed prayer decision was a “critical acknowledgement” by Israel of the need for “one wall for one people”.
More liberal streams of Judaism, which outside of Israel have larger followings than Orthodoxy, chafe at the restriction.
“I am gratified that the cabinet voted this plan into existence”, said Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, head of the Rabbinical Assembly, an worldwide association of conservative rabbis.
Railing against the rules of governance that prohibit women and men praying together, the organization Women of the Wall has held monthly protests at the site in Jerusalem’s Old City for the past 27 years, often resulting in scuffles with the police and arrests.
An Israeli official said the new plaza will take at least a year to complete. 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. Since then, a temporary prayer platform was built for Conservative Jews, but they said it was not always available for them to use. The United States had been Israel’s primary source of support. Other members include the Women of the Wall and representatives from the Reform and Conservative movements.
Also Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Israeli criticism of attacks on its settlement policy unsustainable in an opinion piece published by The New York Times, doubling down on comments earlier in the week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said encouraged terrorism.
The religious-nationalist government past year canceled reforms meant to ease conversion to Judaism, unraveling painstaking efforts by the previous government to weaken the grip of Israel’s Orthodox establishment.
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“We will offer an option to all Israelis and Jews from around the world to express their Judaism”, she said.
