The secular and pluralistic groups want secular Jews, non-Orthodox Jews, and women to be given
equal representation in the management of the Kotel, also known as the Western Wall – the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount itself.
The groups also want control of the site removed from the Western Wall
rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who is haredi and who was closely
associated with former haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, and
they want the Western Wall Heritage Foundation to be disbanded.
Pluralistic And Secular Groups Ask Israel’s High Court To Take Control Of The Kotel Away From Haredim, Orthodox
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, women's organizations and “various pluralistic movements” have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Ynet reported today.
The secular and pluralistic groups want secular Jews, non-Orthodox Jews, and women to be given equal representation in the management of the Kotel, also known as the Western Wall – the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount itself. The groups also want control of the site removed from the Western Wall rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who is haredi and who was closely associated with former haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, and they want the Western Wall Heritage Foundation to be disbanded.
The Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, Israel Hofshit ("Be Free Israel"), Kolech, the Center for Women's Justice, the Yaakov Herzog Center, Hiddush – the Association for Religious Freedom and Equality, and the Women of the Wall all signed the petition.
The Reform Movement told Ynet that it decided to file the petition after increasing haredi modesty demands had turned the entire Western Wall Plaza into “a haredi prayer site.”
“Unlike in the past, men and women can no longer hold joint activities or hold a non-religious ceremony at the Western Wall plaza,” a movement spokesperson told Ynet.
The government allows the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit it created, to run the site – which is of great historical, cultural and religious importance to non-Orthodox Jews as well haredim and the Orthodox.
The petitioners note that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation is controlled by Orthodox Jews and haredim.
Even so, the Foundation’s website describes a seemingly pluralistic mission for the Foundation:
“…In 1988, the government of Israel established the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The Foundation's objective is to convey to all segments of the Jewish people the values inherent in the heritage of the Western Wall, to preserve and develop the Western Wall and its Tunnels, and to develop educational frameworks that make Jews everywhere feel closer to Jerusalem.…
The Western Wall, to which Jews everywhere turn in prayer, belongs to us all. We are all links in the Jewish chain of generations that began here in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation seeks to make that connection come alive by reminding us all that we are linked to each other, to our heritage, and to our Jerusalem.”
The Foundation maintains the plaza surrounding the Kotel and has renovated a large part of it, including “paving and expanding the plaza, preserving the stones of the Wall, and preparing the Western Wall Tunnels for the close to 3 million visitors who have, so far, been awed by them,” the Foundation claims.
It works “in conjunction with other government organizations, religious authorities, and archeologists in the continued exploration of our past through meticulous excavations,” it says.
The Foundation also claims to have “programs suited for every age, from 1st grade to adults, and for every population from soldiers and new immigrants in Israel, to Hebrew teachers in the Ukraine and campers in the United States. We offer six different programs for Bar and Bat Mitzva children, both in and out of Israel.”
The Foundation’s website makes it clear, however, that non-Orthodox ceremonies and prayer services are not supported by the Foundation.
“Celebrating a bat mitzvah at the Western Wall is one of the more difficult issues that we deal with here, at the Western Wall. As opposed to the bar mitzvah which includes reciting the blessings for the Torah reading, putting on phylacteries, the bat mitzvah is neglected.
“The Western Wall grants a certificate but we don’t have an appropriate ceremony. You have the option to coordinate a tour of the Kotel Tunnels (there is an option for the bat mitzvah girl to guide it herself with proper preparation with a bar mitzvah guide) or the Generations Center, and you can arrange for a tour in the City of David with a 3D performance or in the Time Elevator close to the center of town,” the Foundation’s website admits.
The Foundation also notes that, “the Western Wall Heritage Foundation does not provide assistance, logistical help with a Torah scroll and Siddurs (prayer books), or a Bar Mitzvah Guide” for families who choose to have a non-Orthodox bar mitzvah ceremony at the Davidson Center adjacent to Robinson’s Arch – the area designated for non-Orthodox prayer services.
The petitioners want the Foundation to be disbanded.
In its place, they seek the establishment of a different body that would grant equal representation to women and the non-Orthodox “streams” of Judaism. And they also want the Kotel’s haredi rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, removed.
Rabinowitz presided over the Kotel as increasingly harsh attacks on non-Orthodox and women worshippers took place.
"In recent years we are witnessing a trend of growing radicalization in the Western Wall. Large areas of the plaza, which were open to both men and women in the past, have been separated.
"Modesty usherettes have been stationed on the site, forcing women to cover themselves with scarves, even when their clothing is not revealing in any way. The Western Wall and its entire plaza has turned into a prayer site of a haredi nature, and non-religious events are hardly ever held there,” the petition reportedly reads.
Even uniformed Israel soldiers visiting the Kotel have been harassed by haredim, and some IDF induction ceremonies that once were held in the plaza have been discontinued due to haredi complaints and threats.
Diaspora Jewish organizations have already warned Netanyahu and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky that the treatment of non-Orthodox Jews at the Kotel would likely impact the support given to Israel by Diaspora Jews.
In order to thwart haredi violence and civil unrest, several years ago the High Court of Justice blocked women from wearing tallits, prayer shawls, at the Kotel and from reading from Torah scrolls there, even though both practices are permitted to women by halakha, Jewish law.
But at the same time, it ordered the government to find and equal and fair solution for non-Orthodox groups and women to pray at the holy site.
The government set up a small prayer for the pluralist groups in an unused area farther down the wall known as Robinson’s Arch. But the site is in no way equal to the Kotel proper and the government made no serious attempt to make it so.
Sharansky – recently asked by Netanyahu to handle the crisis – wants to upgrade the Robinson's Arch site, and is trying to broker a deal with the pluralistic groups to accept that as a solution.
It is unlikely that the pluralistic groups – after years of harassment by haredim, Rabinowitz’s Kotel guards and police, and after years of neglect by Israel’s government – will accept that very belated (and in their view, very inadequate) offer.