“Under the burden of the Zionist occupation [the Kotel has become] an entertainment center, Heaven forbid, which attracts gentiles and hookers who arrive to corrupt this place of Divine presence, Heaven forbid…every gentile head of state [is brought to visit the Kotel and the state holds] different shows [at the Kotel including] the swearing in of soldiers of the impious army."
Haredi Group Wants To Ban All Women From The Kotel, Western Wall, Says Zionists Bring "Hookers And Gentiles" There
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
In response to pressure levied by pluralistic and secular Jewish groups on the Government of Israel to remove exclusive control of the Kotel (Western or Wailing Wall) from haredi and Zionist Orthodox hands, Edah Haredit, Mea-Shearim-based haredi umbrella organization, lashed out at the Kotel’s haredi rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, Ynet reports.
Edah Haredit accused Rabinowitz of “damaging the sanctity” of the holy site and lamented that if Rabinowitz had just banned all women, haredi or not, from visiting the Kotel, the “evil regime” – i.e., the Israeli government – wouldn’t be trying to find a way to accommodate non–haredi women now.
The attack was published in Edah Haredit’s journal Ha’edah.
Last week, women's organizations and Jewish pluralistic movements filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against both the prime minister and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the quasi-governmental organization founded by the government to manage the holy site, demanding that secular Jews, non-Orthodox Jews and women be given equal representation in the management of the Kotel. The groups are also are asking the court to remove Rabinowitz.
Edah Haredit blames Rabinowitz for this.
“Under the burden of the Zionist occupation [the Kotel has become] an entertainment center, Heaven forbid, which attracts gentiles and hookers who arrive to corrupt this place of Divine presence, Heaven forbid…every gentile head of state [is brought to visit the Kotel and the state holds] different shows [at the Kotel including] the swearing in of soldiers of the impious army.
“It is no wonder that all kinds of reformists are drawn to the place, asking to hold their prayer ceremonies on the site with a mixture of men and women, Heaven forbid, and in a provocative chaos in which women wear prayer shawls and approach the amud [lectern, to serve as cantors] Heaven forbid.
"The reformists were shocked by the brutal behavior against them. [But] why can any adulterer and abuser hold a ceremony at the Kotel, while [the pluralistic groups and women’s groups] forbidden and repulsive ceremonies cannot be held there?" Edah Haredit wrote, adding that Rabinowitz was "parachuted into the job by the government to take over other holy places in the Holy Land as well, “and that those other holy places, like the Kotel, are being ruined by the "leaders of the evil regime."
Rabinowitz has been hostile to women’s groups and to the pluralistic Jewish movements.
Edah HAredit’s complaint is that Rabinowitz was not hostile enough.