The fuss about 'pluralistic prayer' at the Kotel (Western Wall)
I am sure that many of you, particularly in the US where the reactions have been shrill, have heard the fuss about the government 'abandoning' an agreement to facilitate 'pluralistic' prayers at the Western Wall. There's a lot of misinformation about this decision in the media. This video, which I found on Facebook last night, does a great job of clarifying what's really going on.
Let's go to the videotape (I included the entire Facebook post):
Another article, that destroys the claims about 'mixed prayers' being policy at the Kotel during the Mandatory (pre-State) period appears here:
Few seem to recall that the conflict between Arabs and Jews in
British Palestine was directly related to the Kotel and Jewish demands
for prayer rights there. The 1929 riots and pogroms against Jews was due
to a conflict at the site and was referred to as the “Wailing Wall
disturbances” for many
years. According to an article on the subject, “The issue of Jewish
rights of worship at the Wailing Wall flared up as a result of an
incident on 24 September 1928 when the screen separating men and women
at the Wall was removed by a British police officer in the midst of
prayers on Yom Kippur.” Before 1967 Jews were forbidden from bringing
many prayer items to the site. The lack of separation between men and
women was not because Jews didn’t want separation, but because they were
forbidden to change the site, because it was run by the authorities and
Muslim religious leaders saw it as being owned by Muslims. Colonial
authorities ran the Wall.
Let’s read on regarding the 1928 incident: “The ensuing outcry of
world Jewry and the Zionist movement in the wake of the screen incident
was accompanied by an increasing Jewish challenge to the status quo
rights of worship at the Wall, as well as demands for possessing the
Wall and its surrounding area. Indeed, during the 1920s a number of
Zionist and Jewish leaders sought to expand the Jewish standing and
rights of worship at the Wall.”
So at the heart of the Jewish and Zionist demands for increased
rights to the Wall was the demand to separate men and women as in
traditional Orthodox services. Wait a sec. But I thought the “good old
days” back then men and women prayed together? Actually they only prayed
“together” because Jews were forbidden from making any changes to the
site by the British, who were listening to the Islamic Wakf and its
demands for a “status quo.”
The picture above was on the front page of this morning's Jerusalem Post print edition (Hat Tip: Leah P).
What does each of the five women in the picture have in common aside from the fact that they all belong to Women of the Wall?
The caption says that they are 'teaching' women to put on Tefillin. There's one small problem: Not a single one of them has the Tefillin on correctly.
While I can't really see where the arm Tefillin are, the head Tefillin are supposed to go "in the place where an infant's head beats" according to the Talmud. That means that they should be in the center of the head with the front line of the Tefillin ending at the hairline.
Now look at the picture again.
From Left to Right, women 1, 2 and 5 all have their Tefillin on their foreheads (which was how the Karaite sect wore them). Women 3 and 4 have them off to one side. Yes, of course, it's the Left side.
At least 40 Bar Mitzvahs (Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies) were held
at the Western Wall over the weekend, despite Jerusalem being blanketed
with historic levels of snow, according to a statement from the office
of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz.
The statement notes that at least 30 of the ceremonies were carried
out as part of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which organizes Bar
Mitzvah ceremonies free of charge.
Rabbi Rabinowitz also noted that the Jewish holy site saw regular
attendance to prayer services despite the bitter cold. Groups of people
attended services throughout the chaotic weekend, the statement noted,
walking to Jerusalem's Old City by foot through freezing temperatures.
And where were the Women of the Wall? Heck, there was no one there to see them.... Maybe because it wasn't Rosh Chodesh? What happens if it snows again on Rosh Chodesh (the week after next)? Hmmm.
Posted on Facebook by Women for the Wall activist Ronit Peskin.
Writer and Channel 2 Newscaster Sivan Rahav-Meir (סיון רהב-מאיר) posted this photo to her timeline. In translation her words read:
Thursday at midnight, now at the Western Wall. The Jerusalem air is
very cold, and the Plaza is wet from the rain that fell here before.
More than 100 women are here at this time, from all types. With pants
and with skirts, with a prayer book in hand or with prayer in
the heart. Some of them are crying verses from Psalms towards the
stones, some of them are taking pictures and uploading them to Facebook.
They don't have a spokesperson or PR representative, they did
not invite reporters, and more fundamentally they did not come in an
organized fashion, and one doesn't recognize the other.
Women for the Wall will be out in force on Wednesday
Wednesday morning is Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the new Jewish month, and once again thousands of Women for the Wall are coming out to pray - but not necessarily to be seen and certainly not to make a scene. Ronit Peskin appeals to other women to join them.
In the past few months, increasing numbers of Dati Le'umi
(Religious Zionist) women have come to the Kotel on Rosh Chodesh, the
first day of the new Hebrew month, , to join Women For the Wall in
showing, through sincere prayer, Tefillah, that we wish to preserve an
opportunity for undisturbed traditional prayer at the Wall.
Why is this important? What is it that we hope to accomplish?
Let's
start at the beginning. When King Solomon built the Holy Temple, Beit
HaMikdash, thousands of years ago, he prayed that G-d should always hear
our prayers when directed towards that site. The prophets said that
the Kotel HaMa'aravi, the Western Wall, would never be destroyed, and
whenever Jews were able to come to the Holy Land, we returned to pray
there.
And once the Wall was liberated from Jordan in 1967,
Israeli Jews immediately requested a place for traditional prayer at the
Holy site.
The plaza is less than 50 years old. It is less than
12%, of less than one sixth of the length of the Wall. Robinson’s Arch
is one of several other exposed sections. No one is told they can't pray
at “the Wall” in whatever fashion they choose, they are merely asked to
respect tradition in this small section. It's not about the
“ultra-Orthodox;” it's what every one of us – from all around the world,
with all of our different and wonderful customs, minhagim – expect to
find when we, as Jewish women, go to pray.
...
The bottom line is this:
1. After 25 years, WOW is unable to bring 75 Israeli women to the Kotel.
2. The American students of HUC are trying to change the way that we pray in the Jewish State.
We
support everyone's right to pray in their own fashion, including those
who pray in accordance with millenia of Jewish tradition.
The
Conservative and Reform movements have both endorsed Ezrat Yisrael, the
area set up at Robinson's Arch, as a place for alternative prayers. WOW
alone has put up untenable obstacles, including their demand to disrupt
the traditional plaza even after they move.
WOW should move to
Religious Minister Naftali Bennett's new Ezrat Yisrael platform without
delay, without telling the government how prayers at our traditional
plaza should be run. WOW cannot dictate the terms under which they will
stop trying to change us, stop insulting our intelligence, our
independence, and our Judaism.
And that is why your prayers with
us, on Wednesday, the second day of Rosh Chodesh at 7:30 am at
the Kotel, are so important. We hope you will join us!
AVRAHAM’S RESEARCH demonstrates that Hoffman and Kallus are
political animals, not just spiritual seekers motivated by their intense
attachment to the Western Wall. And it strongly suggests that the prime
motivation of the leaders of WoW is to advance an agenda consistent with their
other political work.
The power of the Western Wall derives, in large
part, from its role as a symbol of Jewish continuity, from the time of the First
and Second Temples until today. Those who identify with organizations like Ir
Amim and Emek Shaveh, which oppose Israeli archeological work in the Old City,
as part of a sinister “Judaization of Jerusalem,” and who are allied with groups
calling for the return of east Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and Western
Wall, to Palestinian control, are apparently not terribly moved by Jewish
continuity and its symbols.
In truth, Hoffman has always been rather
forthright that the Western Wall Plaza had value in her eyes primarily as a
place to make political statements – “to be seen,” in her words – and provoke
confrontation. Hoffman admits she feels no particular attachment to places, the
Western Wall included. And her Reform Movement long ago declared, “One should
not consider the Western Wall as possessing any sanctity.”
She has no
answer for the question posed long ago by Hillel Halkin, “Are there no other
places in Jerusalem to practice Jewish feminism, that they must do it at the one
site where it is sure to infuriate large numbers of Orthodox Jews?” – a question
that takes on special gravity given Hoffman’s admission that the Western Wall
has no real sanctity in her eyes.
Offending others is not an unfortunate
byproduct, but the very purpose of WoW. Again, Hoffman admitted as much recently
in explaining her theoretical acceptance of Jewish Agency chairman Natan
Sharansky’s proposal for WoW to move their prayer rites from the current Western
Wall Plaza to a fully refurbished area further south on the Western Wall (albeit
while conditioning that acceptance on 16 untenable conditions). “WoW,” she
conceded, in explanation of the new approach, “is not the right group for
bringing about change in the Orthodox world.”
In other words, the 25
years of confrontation were not, at least for Hoffman, about the yearning for
proximity to the Western Wall, but to “model” new and better modes of prayer for
her benighted Orthodox sisters.
IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the ways in
which WoW’s activities serve the radical agenda of Hoffman, Kallus and Sachs.
WoW serves to “kasher” many of the organizations with which it is associated, in
particular the NIF, which serves as both a funder of WoW and a conduit for its
tax-deductible contributions.
WoW wraps itself in the cloak of religious
pluralism.
For most American Jews, the belief that “there is no right way
to be a Jew” is both the first and last of their theological principles.
Accordingly, religious pluralism is as “American Jewish” as apple pie and
motherhood – sadly, a good deal more so than the latter.
By selling
itself as an organization committed to the benign cause – at least in the eyes
of non-Orthodox American Jews – of religious pluralism, the NIF is able to
obscure other parts of its agenda that might find less favor with many of its
contributors.
But there is another more insidious way in which WoW helps
to advance the radical Left agenda in Israel.
Groups like B’Tselem and
Breaking the Silence, which uses former IDF soldiers to advance a narrative of
widespread Israeli war crimes, seek to alienate American Jews from their
identification with Israel. By doing so, they hope to increase Israeli Jews’
sense of isolation and lack of international support, and to thereby convince
them that the only way out is to conclude a “peace” with the Palestinians on
almost any terms.
The information is out there. It's time for Women of the Wall to either issue an answer refuting the charges or to stop threatening people who have posted them.
Documentary evidence of ties between Women of the Wall and radical 'Palestinian' groups
For those of you who are interested, here is the supporting documentation for the story on the ties between Women of the Wall and radical 'Palestinian' groups (including those supported by the New Israel Fund). I got permission from the person who sent it to me to upload the material to ScribD and it's embedded below.
The document is in Hebrew, but even if you don't speak Hebrew, you should click on the embedded links to see how deep the ties are between these 'heroines' of American Jewry and those who would extirpate the existence of the Jewish state.
'Women of the Wall' trying to suppress coverage of leaders' association with radical Left?
On Friday, I received an email with a Hebrew attachment that contained extensive evidence about ties between the leadership of 'Women of the Wall' and radical Leftist and pro-Arab groups ('including groups funded by the New Israel Fund'). I was invited to blog about the issue. On Saturday night, I received a revised version of the same attachment.
I fully intended to blog about the issue, but with work pressures and a desire to have more than one or two posts on Sunday, it just didn't happen. In the meantime, the Jewish Press posted an article on the same issue by Rachel Avraham. Avraham's article had been posted last week to another site (and I had seen it then, but last week was a crazy week), and was taken down almost immediately. Why? Arutz Sheva hints that the website that originally posted Avraham's article - Jerusalem Online News - was intimidated into taking it down.
“While Women of the Wall has built up a name for themselves as a
feminist organization promoting women’s rights in Israel, their
leadership in fact have links to anti-Israel groups that not many people
know about,” writes Avraham in the piece.
“Regardless of whether one views their actions as provocative
publicity stunts that disturb the peace at the Western Wall or as noble
deeds designed to promote women’s rights within the Jewish religion, the
Israeli public is generally not aware that the Women of the Wall
leadership possesses links to anti-Israel groups.”
“Women of the Wall Vice Chair Batya Kallus serves as an adviser to
Sikkuy,” writes Avraham.
“This NGO is a signatory to the Haifa
Declaration, which calls for the abolishing of the State of Israel,
praises violent resistance, and accuses Israel of manipulating the
memory of the Holocaust for political purposes. Furthermore, Kallus has
facilitated funding for anti-Israel groups Adalah, Ir Amin, Yesh Din,
and Mossawa, as part of her position as programs officer for the Moria
Fund.”
The article goes on to point out that these groups contribute towards
the delegitimization of Israel in the world. Adalah and Mosawah are
opposed to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and a major
contributor to the discredited Goldstone Report; Ir Amim runs “highly
politicized anti-Israel tours of the holy city, which indoctrinate
internationals into holding anti-Israel views,” and Yesh Din views
Israel to be an apartheid state, and demonstrated support for Turkey
after the Gaza Flotilla incident.
Woman of the Wall Chair Anat Hoffman “also happens to be the chair of
the Domari Society of Gypsies in Jerusalem,” which is a part of Al Aqsa
Grassroots, an anti-Israel network that supports "resistance to the
occupation" and is against the "Judaization of Jerusalem," in addition
to supporting the Palestinian right of return to Israel, reveals
Avraham.
Before the 1993 Oslo Accords, she adds, Hoffman was the chairwoman of
Women in Black, a group that advocates giving all of Judea and Samaria,
as well as eastern Jerusalem – which includes the area of the Western
Wall, or Kotel – to the Palestinian Authority.
...
Interestingly, Avraham's article first appeared on Jerusalem Online News. Shortly after its appearance there last Tuesday or Wednesday – it disappeared, and then reappeared on the Jewish Press website on Sunday.
Perhaps this has something to do with Avraham's claim that “Women of
the Wall continues to threaten news publications that have the audacity
to present these facts to the public.”
“However, as journalists, we are committed to share with the Israeli
public the truth about political groups operating within our country.
There are many well-meaning feminists who support Women of the Wall
without being informed of the fact that the organization is led by
individuals tied to anti-Israel groups. These women have the right to know the truth before they sign up for such a cause,” she concludes.
Women of the Wall has not denied the substance of Avraham's charges.
Jordan slams construction of 'egalitarian prayer platform' at Western Wall
The government of Jordan has slammed the construction of a large platform for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall (pictured - access seems to be via a ramp at the bottom of the picture).
The news agency quoted Jordanian State Minister for Media Affairs,
Mohammad Momani saying that the construction of the platform "is a
blatant attack on the Muslim monuments and Waqf (Islamic trust) land
which is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is adjacent to the Western Wall.
Actually, the mosque is on the other side of the wall at the top of the picture, so Momani's charge is quite absurd.
Momani stressed Jordan's position "to exert political, diplomatic, and
legal efforts to protect and care for Muslim and Christian sanctities in
Jerusalem," and warned of "Jewish settlers and extremists' continued
call to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the pretext of Jewish holidays,"
according to the report.
I have not heard of any such calls, and the idea of Jordan's Wakf protecting Christians is beyond absurd.
In this month's Commentary Magazine, Evelyn Gordon has a lengthy piece on the 'Women of the Wall.'
In an interview with Haaretz shortly before finishing his term
as Israel’s ambassador in Washington, Michael Oren said he had been
devoting considerable effort to convincing Israeli leaders that the
battle over the attempt by a women’s group to hold prayer services at
Jerusalem’s Western Wall “could have strategic implications.” In Israel,
Oren explained, the controversy over Women of the Wall “is perceived as
a marginal question,” but “Americans see it as an issue of human rights
and women’s status and freedom of worship.”
This divergence of views between Jews of the diaspora and Jews in
Israel has a simple explanation. Americans see the struggle of Women of
the Wall as a crucial battle for human rights and women’s status because
they believe both are under threat in Israel. Israelis see the struggle
as a marginal issue because they believe neither is under threat. The
story of how that perceptual gulf has developed, and how a 25-year-old
organization exploited it to catapult itself from relative obscurity to
worldwide fame, is indeed a story with “strategic implications.” It’s
the story of how Israelis opposed to their countrymen’s choices at the
ballot box have sought to generate outside pressure to overturn those
choices by creating a false narrative of an Israeli slide into
fundamentalism and fascism.
...
[S]ince most Americans weren’t familiar with the details of the
[Supreme] court’s [2003] ruling [seemingly barring WOW from the main prayer area], it was easy for WOW to obscure the police’s legal
justification and claim that the force was simply kowtowing to Haredi
demands, especially given the Haredim’s vocal (and physical) opposition
to WOW’s services. That in turn played straight into the “exclusion of
women” narrative—a connection WOW made explicitly. As its director,
Leslie Sachs, said after one incident, “Today police succumbed to Haredi
bullying and put us at the back of the bus again.” Thus, to Americans,
it looked like official Israel, in the form of its police force, was
colluding with a fundamentalist demand to remove women from the public
square.
The organization also enjoyed one serendipitous piece of luck: In
April 2013, the Jerusalem District Court asserted that police had
misinterpreted the 2003 Supreme Court ruling, and that it hadn’t
actually barred WOW from praying at the main section of the Wall. This
was a claim WOW had never even made; its own website interprets the
Supreme Court ruling the same way the police did: as saying that its
right to pray at the Wall “was not without boundaries,” and therefore,
it should hold its services at Robinson’s Arch. But since the state
opted not to appeal the district court’s interpretation, it became
binding, and thereafter, police did try to protect WOW’s monthly
services.
Nevertheless, WOW also had no qualms about engaging in provocations
to keep the pot boiling. The tactic is familiar to its longtime
chairwoman, veteran activist Anat Hoffman. She is now executive director
of the Israel Religious Action Center, the Reform Movement’s Israeli
legal and advocacy organization. She also spent 14 years as a Jerusalem
city councilwoman for the left-wing Meretz Party and has served on the
boards of two prominent leftist organizations, the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel and the Israel Women’s Network. But she has been
involved in less mainstream activity as well: In 1988, for instance, she
co-founded Women in Black, an organization whose protests against “the
occupation” and against Israeli efforts to suppress Palestinian terror
were considered radical at that time—at the height of the first
intifada, years before the PLO recognized Israel.
...
[R]elocating away from the Haredi worshipers would defeat Hoffman’s main goal, as she herself defined it to the Jerusalem Post
last December: “I want to see and be seen.” In short, her interest is
not in holding women’s services at the Wall per se, but in doing so
where they will be clearly visible to others who find them
objectionable.
Indeed, WOW’s anti-Haredi agenda was clearly visible this past July,
when Haredim finally managed a peaceful counter-demonstration. On the
day of WOW’s planned monthly service, as many as 7,000 Haredi
high-school girls arose at the crack of dawn to reach the Wall first.
According to police, they completely filled the women’s section, leaving
no room for WOW to pray near the Wall as usual—which was obviously the
point. The organization and its supporters were furious. “We feel like
we’ve been betrayed by the police today because where we’ve been made to
pray today is not a place of prayer,” Sachs said. “It is a blatant
violation of the district court ruling,” charged Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head
of the Israeli Reform Movement, who, backed by Israeli Conservative
Movement leader Yitzhar Hess, argued that the government must ensure
that WOW can pray at the Wall when it so pleases.
What neither WOW nor its supporters explained is this: What were the
police supposed to have done with the young Haredi worshipers? Banned
them from the Wall? Kicked them out when WOW arrived? The implication
was clear. WOW’s demand for open access to the Wall applies only to
itself; Haredi women are free to come en masse only when WOW doesn’t
want the site.
WOW’s provocative behavior alienated even some Israelis who in
principle have no problem with women’s prayer groups. Hillel Halkin, for
instance, wrote an article in the Forward in June terming the
organization “childish provocateurs” indulging in the “narcissism of
thinking that one’s rights matter more than anyone else’s feelings or
the public interest.”
...
[G]enerating diplomatic pressure on Israel starts with undermining
Americans’ belief in Israel’s commitment to democratic values. Indeed,
Shavit linked the two issues explicitly in his July interview with Oren
quoted at the beginning of this article: “The Israel of the settlements,
exclusion of women from the public sphere, and keeping the Women of the
Wall away from the Western Wall isn’t distancing itself from the
American left? We’re not making ourselves unpopular with the new and
progressive America, including liberal Jews?”
During the years when Israel was negotiating with the Palestinians
and ceding territory unilaterally, the left-wing media had no need for
Women of the Wall, and consequently had no interest in it. But for the
past few years, not only were there no negotiations or withdrawals,
there wasn’t even any public pressure for them: Most Israelis attributed
the lack of negotiations to Palestinian intransigence and thought
unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank would simply create another
Gaza-style rocket base.
Consequently, for the left, it became imperative to ratchet up
international pressure by making Israel “unpopular with the new and
progressive America, including liberal Jews.” In this campaign, Women of
the Wall proved useful, hence its sudden rise to media stardom. And in
that sense, WOW is indeed a symptom of a broader Israeli problem. But
this problem isn’t the “exclusion of women.” Rather, it’s the left’s
inability to reconcile itself to the Israeli electorate’s rejection of
their chosen policies.
'Women of the Wall' to be moved to Robinson's arch?
Haaretz is reporting that new cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit (if the name sounds familiar, it should) will present a plan at Sunday's cabinet meeting that would move the 'Women of the Wall' out of the main prayer area and give them a separate spot near Robinson's arch. The plan should also sound familiar....
Mendelblit, who headed a committee tasked with ironing out details of
the plan, including setting a timetable for implementation, is expected
to propose a 400-square-meter space for egalitarian worship, with no
rabbinical supervision, at Robinson’s Arch. There, women would be
permitted to read from the Torah and wear prayer shawls.
Haaretz
has learned that Mendelblit’s plan follows in the footsteps of his
predecessor, Zvi Hauser, also a member of the current committee. Some
years ago, Hauser suggested that the government set up space for
egalitarian worship in the area known as the “Southern Wall” — an
extension of the main prayer plaza that is separate from it and that is
located in the same archaeological park housing Robinson’s Arch, a
Herodian-era street and other archaeological artifacts. Today, the area
of worship contains a small wooden platform built for the Women of the
Wall roughly a decade ago, which the group said did not meet their
demand to be allowed to worship freely at the Western Wall.
Mendelblit
is expected to suggest that the area set aside for worship be expanded,
that it be open for prayer 24 hours a day, and that an ark with Torah
scrolls be placed there for use by non-Orthodox groups. His proposal
differs from Sharansky’s, which suggested that the egalitarian worship
area occupy most of the archaeological park and allow access to the
stones of the Western Wall. Although Sharansky’s plan garnered praise,
the archaeologists who run the site firmly opposed it, while others took
issue with construction work at the sacred site. Mendelblit’s proposal,
which involves only part of the area, gives non-Orthodox worshippers
minimal access to the Western Wall stones.
The
new plan sets a precedent — it provides government recognition for
non-Orthodox movements within Judaism — but the major problem is its
timing. The various sides in the dispute have already expressed their
views on Sharansky’s plan. Most agreed to accept that plan even though
it included physical changes to the entire Western Wall plaza — and this
after the Jerusalem District Court ruled Women of the Wall could
worship in the women’s section almost unimpeded.
Judge
Sobel’s ruling has not been enforced in recent months because of
ultra-Orthodox protests against Women of the Wall, but the women’s
rights group is unlikely back down from its demand to worship in the
women’s section now that the ruling has been handed down. Women of the
Wall had expressed reservations about Sharansky’s plan, which is broader
than the one Mendelblit is expected to unveil, meaning it probably
won’t accept the Hauser-Mendelblit proposal either. The Reform Movement
in Israel and the United States will almost certainly not accept it. It
is not clear how the Conservative Movement, which for all practical
purposes runs the Southern Wall area, will respond to the plan, which
expands and improves the worship options in the area.
Read the whole thing. No, this plan won't be accepted. The whole point of 'Women of the Wall' is to be seen. This would put them out of sight of the worshipers at the Kotel Plaza.
Haredi women once again filled the women's section at the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza on Wednesday morning, Rosh Chodesh, forcing the self-proclaimed 'Women of the Wall' to do their thing elsewhere.
The Women of the Wall prayer rights activist group was holding its
monthly prayer service at the Western Wall on Wednesday, and the
Jerusalem Police said there were around 250 activists present.
The
WoW group was forced to congregate in a different area because the
women's section of the Western Wall was too packed, the police said.
Around one to two hundred shouting and whistle blowing haredi men and
women were protesting close to the WoW prayer area but police had made
no arrests.
The Jerusalem Police accompanied the group members from the complex’s entrance to the
Western Wall plaza so as to prevent anyone from interfering with their
prayers.
The Women of the Wall have the merit that they are bringing thousands of Haredim out for sunrise prayer services (the best way of saying morning prayers under Jewish law) every Rosh Chodesh. Next month, Rosh Chodesh is Rosh HaShanna, and I don't believe they come there on Rosh HaShanna (there is no public transport in Jerusalem and no cars are allowed near the Western Wall). In two months, Rosh Chodesh is on the Sabbath (again, no public transport and no cars), so unless they're going to show up on the first day of Rosh Chodesh (which is not the first day of the month), there may not be a clash then either. That means the next clash is 2-3 months away.
Mass Haredi Rosh Chodesh prayer service to be held at Western Wall on Wednesday morning
The JPost tries to give the impression that, contrary to last month, Haredi schoolgirls are not going to show up at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Wednesday morning for Rosh Chodesh prayers.
Last month, thousands of haredi schoolgirls filled the women’s
section entirely preventing WoW from holding their service there, and were
forced to conduct it at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza complex away from
the wall.
The group expressed intense displeasure with the arrangements
last month, saying that the police should have enabled them to pray in the area
facing the wall behind the main prayer sections for men and women at the very
least.
WoW has announced that it will blowing the shofar in today’s
morning prayers, as is customary in the month of Elul, and will also bring a
Torah scroll to the entrance of the complex.
...
On Wednesday, the office of
[Rabbi Shmuel] Rabinowitz [the Kotel rabbi] announced that both he and the Jerusalem police were calling on
haredi representatives in the Jerusalem Municipality to prevent haredi school
girls from going to the Western Wall this month, in light of security concerns
ahead of the last day of Ramadan and large number of Muslims expected to arrive
in the Old City and the Temple Mount.
Haredi politicians from United
Torah Judaism, both national and municipal, were the driving force behind recent
haredi protests against the Women of the Wall.
Rabinowitz said he also
called on the WoW to come “according to the previous arrangement” and not to
wear tephillin.
They're going to have to get up awfully early to find place in the women's section at the Kotel on Wednesday. At this very moment, there are cars going around my neighborhood - and presumably others in Jerusalem as well - calling (in the name of the 'Eida Haredith') for the public to turn out en masse for dawn prayer services at the Kotel on Wednesday.
Hat Tip to Rena F for the image (and sorry to those who do not understand the Hebrew).
It's Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month), and that's the day that the Women of the Wall come out to do their thing.
But on Monday morning, there was no room for them in the women's section of the Western Wall Plaza, and they were forced to the back (I'm posting a picture of the plaza below so you understand what that means - the back area is frequently used for prayer on crowded days).
When people refer to the plaza, they are referring to the front section (the women's section is on the right and the men's section is on the left). There's about a two-foot drop from the back square to the two rectangles at the bottom (and the rectangles have been expanded slightly further back since this photo was taken. When it's really crowded (Shavuoth, the last day of Sukkoth and Jerusalem Day), there are partitions added to the middle area (until where the line is at the bottom left of the photo) to accommodate separate prayer areas in the large middle section.
I cannot tell from the story below whether the Women of the Wall were relegated to the middle section or perhaps to the back section. In any case, they were in front of the Wall.
The non-orthodox Women of the Wall held services, Monday morning, to
mark the new Jewish month of Av at the Western Wall of the Temple in
Jerusalem's Old City. A large number of police were present out of
concern that hareidi-religious worshipers would disrupt the observance
as they have the past two months.
In their effort to avoid
friction between the sides, police did not allow the group to pray in
the main women's section, citing overcrowding.
Haaretz claims that this is the first time in 25 years that Women of the Wall could not gain access to the women's section of the front plaza. I don't think that's accurate, because for many years, Women of the Wall was up the stairs in a garden all the way at the back and well above the plaza level (so they could not be heard) and for a while they were at Robinson's arch, which is well to the right of the picture above.
Sunrise this morning was 5:40 - you had to be there awfully early to get in....
You will recall that I reported on Thursday that the 'Palestinians' are objecting to reconfiguring the area around the Kotel (Western Wall) to allow for an 'egalitarian' prayer area. Evelyn Gordon has a great idea to make this a teachable moment for American Jews.
[I]deally, I’d like every Reform or Conservative congregation in
America to discuss this question with its membership–for two reasons.
One is that the new egalitarian section seems to matter more to
American Jews than to Israelis, since Israel’s Reform and Conservative
movements are so much smaller (about 7 percent
of all Israeli Jews). Therefore, it’s only fair to get their input
before making any decision. The more important reason, however, is that
this could provide a genuine teachable moment in the kind of trade-offs
Israelis face every day in dealing with the Palestinians, to which
liberal American Jews–i.e. the majority of the American Jewish
community–have lately grown increasingly unsympathetic.
Most liberal American Jews have two
main demands of Israel: They want it to recognize the non-Orthodox
denominations, and they want it to make peace with the Palestinians,
right now. The latter demand isn’t confined to fringe anti-Israel
activists; it’s routinely voiced by long-time Israel supporters like Rabbi Eric Yoffie or Leon Wieseltier.
So I’d like all these Jews to seriously consider this question: When
these two primary demands conflict, what do you do–capitulate to the PA
in the interests of “peace” and give up on being able to pray at the
Western Wall in your own fashion, or insist on your rights at the Wall
at the cost of further antagonizing the Palestinians, for whom
modifications of the Western Wall Plaza are no less objectionable than
new outposts in the heart of the West Bank?
Dilemmas no less wrenching confront Israel every day in dealing with
the Palestinians, but because they don’t affect American Jews directly,
the latter are often too quick to accuse Israel of being intransigent
over a trivial point it should just concede in the name of peace. They
deplore Israel’s refusal to agree to a border roughly along the 1967
lines, not understanding the enormous security risks this creates; they
deplore Israel’s refusal to release murderers to woo
the Palestinians to the negotiating table, not understanding the major
role freed prisoners have repeatedly played in fomenting new terrorism;
they deplore Israel’s reluctance to redivide Jerusalem, not
understanding how unlikely it is that the city would remain open
afterward, or how devastating a repartition would therefore be.
This is rich: 'Palestinians' object to 'egalitarian prayer area' in Western Wall plaza
Anxious to avoid a controversy, Prime Minister Netanyahu asked former Minister Natan Sharansky to find a solution to the monthly riots over Women of the Wall. Sharansky has proposed making a separate 'egalitarian prayer area' (i.e. without a separation barrier between men and women) south of where the current Kotel plaza is.
Sharansky’s plan will allow for the construction of an additional
section of the Western Wall Plaza at the southern end of the Kotel,
equal in size and height as the northern prayer area, for egalitarian
prayer and accessible as part of one unified Western Wall complex with a
single entrance. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told Sharansky
to meet with National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror to deal with
issues like how to handle moving the Mugrabi Bridge to the Temple Mount.
But the 'Palestinians,' who are generally supported by many of the same Leftists who support Women of the Wall, object to making any changes to the Kotel plaza.
The Palestinian Authority will not permit Israel to change the entrance
to the Temple Mount in order to facilitate the building of an
egalitarian prayer area near the Western Wall, PA Religious Affairs
Minister Mahmoud El Habash told The Jerusalem Post in Ramallah Thursday morning.
He said he considers the Western Wall an Islamic holy site, al-Buraq.
"Any
changes in Haram a-Sharif [Temple Mount] is unacceptable to the
Palestinians and Arab side," Habash said in a meeting with Israeli
journalists. "It's a change of our heritage site and I believe such
changes may push all of us to new conflicts and problems."
Habash,
who is a former Hamas member from the Gaza Strip but strongly backs two
states for two peoples, said any change in the status quo regarding the
Temple Mount must wait until a final status agreement between Israel
and the PA.
"Any changes in this situation will make the problem
more difficult," Habash said. "We don't agree to any changes. It's a
Wakf place, and Islamic place and we have documents to prove it. You can
pray how you want after the liberation of Palestine."
I looked in vain on Sunday morning to see what happened at the Western Wall. Today, Sunday, is Rosh Chodesh, the day each month that the 'Women of the Wall' show up to do their thing in front of television cameras and the New York Times. Last month, thousands of Haredim showed up and drowned them out. The JPost is reporting that Sunday morning's prayers passed with 'relative calm.'
A few hundreds of haredim demonstrated the WoW monthly Kotel prayer
service with signs calling the group "Provocation Women," attempting to
disrupt the prayer by booing and jeering at the women.
"You have made up a new religion. Go ahead, build a new modern wall!" signs raised by haredim said.
Two protesters were arrested after one threw an egg at police forces and the other threw a bottle.
Western
Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement on Sunday morning
condemning the haredi protest at the wall, asking all involved parties
to work to find a solution to the dispute "that doesn't honor the holy
site and the people of Israel."
According to police spokesman
Micky Rosenfeld, Jerusalem Police planned a heavy presence in the area
to ensure the demonstration, that was expected to draw thousands, does
not escalate into violence, as it did during last month’s Women of the
Wall Rosh Hodesh service, resulting in injuries and multiple arrests of
haredim.
“Sunday morning, police will be at the scene to ensure no
incidents take place and we will escort members of Women of the Wall in
and out of the area,” said Rosenfeld on Saturday evening.
“We are
expecting at least several hundred people from the haredi community and
will be fully prepared to deal with any public disturbances, if
necessary.”
Sunday’s protest was approved by the senior haredi
rabbinic leadership, with the caveat that attendees behave “in
accordance with the Torah,” ....
Yated Ne’eman
reported on Thursday that in an effort to curtail repeated violence, the
haredi leadership requested that only married yeshiva students and
adults attend the demonstration, and asked younger men and boys to stay
at home.
But what they're not telling you is that the police actually closed the Western Wall to worshipers for at least half an hour.
Let's go to the videotape.
Much more - including many pictures - here (text in Hebrew).
And for those of you who are sitting overseas thinking you have all the answers, please consider this comment that was posted to the JPost article.
Los Angeles is so far it doesn't mean anything to us over here. You want
to have an impact, you have to be here. Talk from LA is just talk to
make yourselves feel better.
'Let them pray or there will be 100 dead Haredi bodies'
The monthly publicity stunt known as 'Women of the Wall' took a potentially deadly turn on Monday, as the two chief rabbis each received a letter warning them to allow the 'Women of the Wall' to pray 'in their way and according to their custom' or 'you will return home with 100 Haredi bodies.'
In the letter, sent to Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, a picture of a gun and warnings such as "this
is your last warning," and "your end is near" were included.
The Chief Rabbinate stated in response that the matter had been
reported to the head of the Prime Minister's Office security detail.
"This
is the first time that the chief rabbis of Israel have received threats
on their lives," the statement added. "In Israel, we have unfortunately
learned already that words can kill. These are not just threats against
the rabbis, but against an entire public with vitriolic language. We
hope that the police will bring the inciters and threateners to
justice."
Following the report of the threatening letters, Western
Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz stated that he had received a threatening
letter calling on him to allow the Women of the Wall to pray last week.
Rabinowitz said that he had filed a complaint to the police over the letter.
Rosh Chodesh, the day on which the women generally come to the Western Wall, is this coming Sunday.
UPDATE 5:35 PM
Women of the Wall is denying any connection to the letter, and says that they hope that the police will find the person(s) who sent it (link in Hebrew).
The office of the Kotel rabbi confirms receiving a similar letter last week.
MK Eli Yishai (Shas) sees this incident as connected to other instances of incitement against Haredim, including by public figures, in recent weeks, and fears that we may yet see the results of such incitement.
The Chief Rabbinate Council is attempting to find a compromise, but has issued a statement saying that until they decide otherwise, there should be no changes in the order of prayer at the Western Wall, and that it is deemed to have the sanctity of a(n Orthodox) synagogue.
I received this by email (Hat Tip: Leah P). I realize it's probably too late for many of my readers, but next month....
Dear Fellow Jewish Woman,
I am requesting your help in an urgent project for Klal Yisrael.
You may have heard of a group calling themselves the "Women of the Wall," led by someone representing the American Reform movement. Their members go down to the Kotel HaMa'aravi on Rosh Chodesh wearing Tallis and Tefillin, read loudly from a Sefer Torah, and otherwise "go through the motions" of men's davening in order to make their feminist point. Through their confrontations with others at the Kotel and with police, and the group's enlistment of media'" the Women of the Wall have fostered strife and created a tremendous Chilul HaShem, especially in the United States, where they have successfully cast their political theater as a "women's rights" issue. Most recently, their leader, Anat Hoffman, called for the mechiza to removed daily from the Kotel at 9 AM and that the Kotel be redsignated from a religious site to a National Monument. Clearly, the sanctity of the Kotel is at risk.
HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, the Gerrer Rebbe and the Belzer Rebbe have all said that the groups efforts must be opposed. R' Chaim and Rav Berkovitch in particular have already given his blessing to our approach specifically.
You are exemplars of what a true Bas Yisrael is supposed to be- a very different image from that of the women seeking to change the character of the Kotel. Sivan is the month when we got the Torah and were mekabel ol malchus shamayim as a nation- K'ish Echad Bilev Echad- all in unity.
This Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, we are assembling a large group of frum women to go to the Kotel and daven together, limaan am Yisrael, limaan Kdushas am Yisrael, Limaan the Torah, and Limaan Achdus Am Yisrael. We will simply be at the Kotel, being mispallel and reciting Tehillim - before the "Women of the Wall" show up with their media circus at 7:00 AM. The Women of the Wall have no more than 100 members in all, and we know that many, many more women who go to the Kotel strongly object to what they are doing.
Those who join us to daven to Hashem will NOT be requested or encouraged to interrupt their davening, confront the other women, or address the media. On the contrary, that would all be counterproductive. Simply by being present and standing apart, we will be sending the silent but powerful message that the attack the Women of the Wall have launched is not at all about "women's rights" but rather about trying to change traditional Jewish practice.
We urge you to please come join us on Erev Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, May 10, at 6:30 AM. Please let us know if count upon you to encourage their participation.
If you want any further information about our group, our intentions, and the wide Rabbinic support that we already have "behind the scenes," don't hesitate to contact me directly. 050-710-1791 or 02-997-2261
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
