Israel Mulls Giving Control of Western Wall to Orthodox

While Israel presses forward with its military strikes against the Islamic regime of Iran, an equally determined battle is shaping up against the political forces within Israel that would extend fundamentalist Judaism’s control one of Israel’s most important religious sites.

A bill introduced in Israel’s Knesset last month passed its first reading to give Israel’s Orthodox Chief Rabbinate full control over prayer over the entire Kotel, the Western Wall of the Biblical Temple in Jerusalem.

The practical effect of the bill would be to put an end to egalitarian prayer in the Ezrat Israel plaza of the Kotel and would label any attempt at non-Orthodox worship a “desecration” of the holy site. If passed the law would carry a penalty of up to seven years in prison for such a violation.

Among those leading the call to pressure Israel’s government to defeat the legislation was Margo Gold, a longtime memberof Ahavath Achim Synagogue, and the immediate past international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which represents Conservative Jews around the world.

She called the legislation a “shonda,” a Yiddish term that is usually reserved for moral actions that are scandalously shameful. In a hastily assembled conference call with 400 influential Conservative Jewish leaders, she called on them to share their outrage with Israel’s diplomats and consular officials around the world.

“We are angry. We are hurt, and we need to share that,” Gold said. “I think the part that’s so painful to me is that these are Jews doing this. This is why Israel exists and Jews turning on Jews is one of the most painful things I can imagine.”

Among those who have worked to create a strong voice for liberal Jews in Israel is Rabbi Peter Berg, Senior Rabbi at The Temple. He was a delegate from the Association of Reform Zionists of America, also known as ARZA, at last year’s World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. The Congress meets every five years to draft a budget for the organization and a list of priorities.

He and the other Reform and Conservative delegates worked and voted together and thought they had “made a big impact” in calling for, among other things, the reopening of the egalitarian section of the Kotel and promoting women’s leadership.

Berg said he came away encouraged by the relationships he saw being formed among all the delegates to the world body, including those who are Orthodox Israelis.

We are angry. We are hurt, and we need to share that.

“My observation was that there’s a real reciprocal relationship, and a real sense that we need each other. And I really felt that, while I was there, that the Israelis felt that they needed the diaspora community, and the diaspora community felt strongly that we need a strong Israel.”

But it’s been a difficult five months since the Congress ended its work in late October. And the response of the Union For Reform Judaism and its religious leaders in the Central Conference of American Rabbis after the Knesset vote was strong and swift. The statement signed by all of Reform’s leaders made clear the concerns of these American Jewish representatives.

“The debate over this legislation raises a fundamental question: Will Israel be a state of the Jewish people or a state for only one interpretation of Judaism? For North American Jews, engagement on this issue is not interference; it is investment. Jewish sovereignty must reflect the diversity, dignity, and shared destiny of the Jewish people everywhere.”

The bill was introduced by Avi Maoz, the sole representative in the Knesset of the Noam Party, which advocates ultra-Orthodox radicalism and the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate as a fourth branch of government.

Will Israel be a state of the Jewish people or a state for only one interpretation of Judaism?

The fact that the bill passed by a vote of 56-47 alarmed and outraged progressive Jewish leaders around the world. The legislation was designed to nullify a ruling by Israel’s High Court that the nation must upgrade the Western Wall’s egalitarian plaza and allow non-Orthodox prayers there.

Earlier this month, the Knesset House Committee moved forward with the bill, voting to send it to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which is chaired by a lawmaker who has a history of working with the Israel’s ultra-Orthodox politicians.

The head of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism, Anna Kislanski, called the action a slap in the face for non-Orthodox Jews.

“In the midst of a war, while Jews of all stripes are fighting for their lives and are in the army, in the reserves, and on the home front, the coalition chooses to promote the Western Wall Law, the same law that defines those citizens as second-class Jews.”