Uri Regev, director of Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel Inc., said the achievement was liable to undermine efforts to loosen the Orthodox rabbinate’s lock on other areas of Jewish life, such as marriage, conversion and burial.
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The new prayer site is tough to accept for the ultra-Orthodox, who consider the sight of women carrying Torah scrolls and wearing religious articles traditionally reserved for men to be a provocation. The gatherings frequently ended in physical tussles and arrests.
But Deri insisted the government was forced into doing the bad deal because of the High Court of Justice, which was expected to rule in two weeks that the government had to create an area at the Kotel proper for women to hold women-only prayer services that include public Torah readings and use of tallits and teffilin.
There will be a small section for those women who wish to pray in a female-only part. It will also create a new entrance to the area so both Orthodox and non-Orthodox prayer areas will be given equal prominence.
Thousands of people around the world go to the Western Wall everyday.
The prime minister also hails the “historic” new mixed-gender section at the Western Wall, approved by the cabinet earlier this week. Projected to cost about million, the plaza will be able to accommodate 1,200 worshippers and be officially registered in Israel’s Law of Holy Sites. It will be administered by government officials. 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. “That is about to change”, said Rabbis Noa Sattah and Gilad Kariv in a joint statement. The government does not recognize the authority of Reform and Conservative rabbis and institutions and provides them with only nominal funding.
The Consulate General of Israel, Los Angeles, convened Sunday’s press conference with the cooperation of Limmud FSU, which was holding a three-day gathering for Jewish learning of mostly Russians in Pasadena, hosting Sharansky as one of its leading speakers. There is more than one way to pray. He said ” it harms the Jewish tradition and will lead to unnecessary conflict”.
Sheikh Yousef Adeis, Palestinian Waqf and Religious Affairs Minister, said that the plan is seen by Palestinians as another attempt by Israel to expand the Jewish presence and assert its dominance over the flash point Temple Mount complex, said Haaretz.
That Netanyahu managed to push forward the Western Wall agreement over the opposition of key ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist elements in his own government owes mostly to his desire to satisfy American Jews, who have long lamented that Israel should be as accepting of their religious practices as they are of their financial support.
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The proponents of the new arrangement alighted on a central theme, that the recognition of their rights would lead the way for them to demonstrate to Israelis en masse a different type of Judaism than they have been exposed to in the past.
