[yshavurah] FW: A Land Grab at the Kotel
- From: Eric Friedland <efriedland@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: andrew g <andrewgoldstein@xxxxxxxxx>,anita ehrenfried <jbpotter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,art g <green@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, bernard m <bemeh@xxxxxxxxxxx>,bernard b <bernardbarsky@xxxxxxx>, heyn <BTHeyn@xxxxxxx>,yehuda <berger788@xxxxxxxxxxx>, ys havurah <yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,ted cooper <tedmcooper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, ilana w <ilana@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,marsha <walnuthillsfideles@xxxxxxxxx>, marcus <djmarcu@xxxxxxx>,michael kent <michael.kent@xxxxxxxxxx>,dan sokol <dzsokol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, debby d <EDA_Siegel@xxxxxxx>,a friedlander <Albert.friedlander@xxxxxxxxxx>,turyn <lturyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, garry <g_greene@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,burt s <burtdoc@xxxxxxx>, s fine <steven.fine@xxxxxx>,seth s <sanders@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, sandy <sbp186@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,sarason <rsarason@xxxxxxxx>, harlan <wechslerh@xxxxxxx>,hope bard <hopeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, elizabeth p <epohio@xxxxxxx>,irene <izabrams@xxxxxxxxx>, linda <iraoglick@xxxxxxx>,phil r <prothman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,rita <ritadushmanrich@xxxxxxxxxxx>,kulback <paulkulback@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 15:27:05 -0500
Please let your Orthodox and especially Chabad friends know your
unhappiness with this exclusionary policy. ~Eric
----------
From: Andrew Sacks <raisrael@xxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: "Masorti: Torah and News from the Masorti Movement in
Israel"<MASORTI@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 16:35:01 +0200
To: MASORTI@xxxxxxxx
Subject: A Land Grab at the Kotel
Below you will find an Op Ed piece that was published in the Forward this
week.
Andy Sacks
A Land Grab at the Western Wall By ANDREW M. SACKS The Western Wall is a
powerful symbol for Jews of all stripes. Unfortunately, recent developments
at the Wall threaten to transform the holy site into a place where many Jews
will feel increasingly unwelcome.
The area immediately adjacent to the Western Wall has long been, for all
intents and purposes, an Orthodox synagogue. A permanent mechitza, or prayer
barrier, dividing the men's and women's prayer areas was erected in 1967
after Israel retook the Old City. People who choose to pray in this area
must do so in the Orthodox fashion.
But behind the prayer area there is a large plaza that is used by many
different groups. Non-Orthodox groups, even non-Jewish groups, have prayed
there. Army units have their induction ceremonies on the plaza. The
mixed-gender army choir has performed there. On Israel's Memorial Day, Yom
Hazikaron, the plaza area is always crowded with Israelis secular and
religious, men and women, together.
Now, however, the status quo is in danger. The Western Wall plaza is
shrinking. It is much smaller than it was just a few months ago. The
Orthodox rabbi put in charge of the Wall area by the Ministry of Religious
Affairs, Shmuel Rabinovitch, has decided that more space is needed for
prayer in fact, much more. The plaza is being torn up by bulldozers so that
the men's and women's prayer section can be expanded by some 6,400 square
feet not an inconsequential tract of sacred real estate. The expansion
would nearly double the size of the prayer area.
Construction began in November and is expected to wrap up sometime this
month. The decision to expand the prayer area appears to have been made
without any public consultation. The end result will be that non-Orthodox
groups that want to pray in or otherwise utilize the plaza will be confined
to a smaller space that is farther removed from the Wall.
Rabbi Rabinovitch has defended the expansion by arguing that there was not
enough space at the Wall for those who wished to pray. But this is a
specious argument. In reality there are far fewer tourists visiting the Wall
these days. There are also fewer Israelis who are willing to come to the Old
City owing to security concerns.
Rather, the expansion seems to be part of an ongoing campaign to turn the
entire Wall area into a place where a rigid form of Orthodoxy holds sway. We
can see this in the gradual growth in the height of the mechitza dividing
the men's and women's prayer sections, consistent with the rightward drift
in the Orthodox world. And we can see this in the occasional harassment of
and even assaults upon non-Orthodox groups that seek to worship in the plaza
area.
Indeed, there have been at least two other efforts to extend the mechitza in
the previous two years. The extensions were removed only as a result of
appeals made to the Ministry of Religious Affairs by the attorney for the
Masorti movement, Israel's equivalent of Conservative Judaism.
While many members of the Masorti movement now pray at the Robinson's Arch
area of the Wall, just south of the plaza, we have never relinquished our
right to pray, in keeping with our customs, men and women together, in the
plaza area. That is why we are weighing the possibility of petitioning
Israel's Supreme Court if necessary to restore the status quo. We support
the right of all Jews to pray freely in keeping with their own
long-established customs. We have made clear that we have no objection to
temporary extensions to the mechitza to be erected for those occasions when
the numbers of Orthodox worshippers swell.
The Western Wall, however, rightfully belongs to the entire Jewish people.
Unilateral actions by those who view the area as their own private domain
must not be allowed to stand. If we permit actions such as these, we will
quickly find ourselves on a slippery slope toward losing our rights at
Judaism's most holy site.
Rabbi Andrew M. Sacks is the director of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel,
the rabbinical arm of the Masorti movement.
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