Since Jan. 31, I have been hearing from varying media that my desire to pray, with the support of the Israeli government, at a separate area of the Kotel and the desire of the Masorti movement to no longer bear the burden, both physical and financial of supporting non-haredi worshippers, seem to border on the criminal. Over and over, I have heard that the accomplishment of a goal in allowing them to pray at a specific area of the Kotel, for which the Masorti movement has been fighting since 1997 is not an accomplishment.
Criticism has not been limited to one end of the spectrum. One haredi young man burned a Reform siddur in retaliation for the announcement. Israel’s Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush said that Women of the Wall “should be thrown to the dogs.” On the other side, commentaries and leaders from within liberal Jewish movements stated that the plan does not go far enough. One op-ed even suggested closing the Kotel entirely until we can all learn to pray together with no barriers. Even the Grand Mufti has gotten in on the action.
READ: WE WON’T STOP UNTIL WE HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS AT THE KOTEL
It’s always difficult to accept situations that are contrary to one’s own desires. In an emotional situation, it can even feel like abandonment. Nonetheless, it is not wrong for one or more groups to move ahead with goals, even when others disagree.
Norma Baumel Joseph has been vocal in The CJN about her dissatisfaction and disagreement with the recent Kotel decision. I understand. The agreement will not help her. It will not help Original Women of the Wall. But there is much more to the decision than the status of Women of the Wall.
Joseph wrote: “By accepting this plan, they are not increasing pluralism, just decreasing shared spaces.” Whether de facto or de jure, the Kotel area has become a haredi synagogue. Further, the space by Robinson’s Arch, known as the Masorti Kotel, has been in use for almost 20 years.
In 1997, on Shavuot, after over 15 years of Masorti worshippers holding minyanim in the Kotel plaza, haredim became violent toward the Masorti minyan, throwing glass bottles, diapers and excrement. One year later, we began holding services in the Robinson’s Arch area. We officially signed an agreement with the Israeli government in 2000, “with the responsibility and readiness to reach a compromise and to dialogue, and to limit friction and confrontation which could, heaven forbid, escalate to bloodshed, we decided to accept the proposal… to hold prayers at the southern end of the Kotel, rather than in the main plaza.”
Over the last 19 years, our minyanim have grown from a handful to 50,000 worshippers last year. Each day, volunteers and staff from the Masorti movement carry tables, siddurim and sifrei Torah to the area to provide for those 50,000. The Masorti movement also carries the burden of organizing, scheduling and paying for supplies. The new agreement will make this space more visible, more accessible and, in time, as familiar. It will relieve a major financial and physical burden unfairly carried, no matter how generously given. It also acknowledges the legitimacy of non-haredim to pray as they see fit at Israel’s religious sites.
For many, the Kotel we see in postcards and aerial footage is the only Kotel. They ignore that worshippers pray at the Kotel HaKatan, an exposed area of the Kotel in the Arab Quarter also recognized as a holy site. Since the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels, Jews have prayed there. Since its exposure, others have also come to worship at the southern end of the Kotel.
In 1967, the southern section of the Kotel was left, as the northern plaza was cleared for archeology. The digging is done. For almost 20 years, the Masorti movement has provided for these worshippers. It’s time the State of Israel recognized this section as a holy site to those who chose to pray there.
READ: A SENSE OF WONDER AT THE KOTEL
The Kotel is an important symbol for Jews around the world. Its issues are multi-layered and nuanced. There are as many solutions to administering the space as there are Jews in the world, perhaps more. To Norma Baumel Joseph and others for whom this is not the Kotel, I say, it may not be your Kotel, but it is certainly mine.
Rabbi Jennifer Gorman is executive director of MERCAZ-Canada & Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism.
