Predictably, the High Court ruled on Monday, 17 Iyar (May
22), that the Religious Affairs Ministry must enable a group
of Reform and Conservative women to hold a prayer ceremony at
the Kosel, something which until now was forbidden by the Law
of the Sacred Sites. This group of women seeks to hold their
ceremony together, out loud, while they are wrapped in
talleisim. They also plan to read from a Torah scroll
aloud. The High Court dismissed the objections of the
governmental authorities that the ceremony is provocative and
incendiary.
The sanctity of the Kosel plaza is guaranteed by a law which
says that the sensitivities of those who have come to the
Kosel to pray may not be offended. Up until now the
authorities have not permitted those "Women of the Wall" to
hold their ceremonies at the Kosel under this provision of
the law, since the rites they chose are clearly intended to
provoke and to offend the sensitivities of the vast majority
of those who frequent the Kosel.
Justices of the High Court Eliyahu Matza, Tova Strassberg-
Cohen and Dorit Beinish ruled that within half a year, the
government must arrange a special place within the Kosel
plaza for the conducting of prayer rites of the Reform women.
The decision stipulated that this place should be situated
within the Kosel plaza and not at an alternate site, and that
the safety of the provocative group must also be
maintained.
The judges rejected various suggestions raised in recent
years regarding the location of an alternate place for the
conducting of the disgraceful rite which desecrates this
mokom kodosh. They also determined that the police
must prevent conflicts and skirmishes with those who oppose
the holding of these rites. In reference to the firm
opposition of the Torah observant community to these rites,
they added that the police should not yield to the demands of
various groups.
Concomitantly, it was reported that on Monday, a secret
agreement was reached, with the approval of the government,
to enable the Reform and Conservatives to hold prayer rites
in the Kosel area, though not in the main plaza. The
agreement, which was reported in Yediot Acharonot,
determines that those prayer rites will be held near the
Southern Wall, below a projection in the Western Wall which
is known as Robinson's Arch in an area that is currently an
archaeological garden.
The agreement states that these rites will be held on a trial
basis for a year, and that Conservative women will be able to
hold them on the site once a week in the morning hours, as
well as on Tisha B'Av and on other special dates, if they
give advance notice. It also states that at the first stage,
no more than 100 people may participate in these rites at one
time.
According to this agreement, which was not coordinated with
the religious community, the administration of the sacred
sites will provide the participants with religious articles
including Torah scrolls, siddurim, a portable aron
kodesh, and a closet where they may store these items.
Yated Ne'eman learned that the agreement, formulated
with the Conservatives by the government's secretary,
Yitzchok Herzog, was supposed to head off the High Court
ruling in the suit of the "Women of the Wall." However, the
judges ignored the agreement.
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz said: "According to the decision, they
should be given an area where they will not offend the
sensitivities of the people who come to pray at the Kosel. If
such an arrangement be made, it will probably not allow them
to hold their rites at the Kosel plaza itself. However, at
this stage, I don't see that a way which will enable them to
hold their disgraceful rite at the Kosel plaza is
possible.
"It should be stressed that no one who respects the
regulations of the site is ever prevented from praying beside
the Kosel. Everyone may pray at the Kosel. However, holding a
collective rite in order to provoke disturbances is against
the halocho and even against the position of the High
Court."
Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who on Monday presented an urgent proposal
to place the issue on the Knesset agenda, said: "The timing
of the court is a bit bizarre, for it comes precisely when
soldiers and citizens are being attacked by the Arabs [a time
when unity in the nation is of the utmost importance]. This
is a knife in the back of Torah observant and traditional
Jews throughout the entire world, and is a terrible offense
to the most sacred place of the Jewish Nation. The judges of
the High Court, who are militant secularists, prove that
whoever tries to compromise with them, quickly ends up with
extreme decisions like this one.
"The people of the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Nationwide
Center for the Sacred Sites, and the rabbis of the sacred
sites, as well as those who come to the Kosel to pray, will
prove that this is only a decision on paper. The judges of
the High Court have even ignored the opinion of the police
which said that this rite will shatter the peace, due to the
conflicts which will constantly ensue at the site."
MK Rabbi Meir Porush said: "In all of the generations,
traditional prayer services were held at the Kosel. Now the
High Court is trying to transform this sacred site into a
dance square under the aegis of the Reform movement." He said
that he will present a proposal to the Knesset obligating the
maintaining of traditional prayer standards at the Kosel as
in all generations.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron sharply attacked
the decision and said that it will result in a rift in the
nation. It was made despite the fact that an agreement was
reached by all those involved to allocate a special place for
the Reform women to pray at the Kosel, a decision to which
the Attorney General and the secretary of the government were
partners. "In all of the generations, set prayer standards
prevailed at the Kosel, and all that the Reform women, under
the aegis of the High Court, seek to is to create
divisiveness and by praying bedavka at the site which
has been declared a synagogue and a sacred place. It is
precisely there that they want to carry out there
designs."
Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Cohen said that the
decision of the High Court is in total defiance of the
previous agreements with him and negates his position. "My
position is that the Reform and the Conservative may not
encroach on the Kosel in any way whatsoever." The Religious
Affairs Minister also declared that he will seek swift
legislation in the Knesset to define precisely what is
permitted and what is forbidden at the Kosel plaza.
The spokesman of the Justice Ministry, Ido Baum: "The ruling
of the High Court on the appeal of the Reform women to enable
them to pray at the Kosel has reached the office of the
Attorney General and he is currently studying it and will
discuss its judicial and practical implications with the
relevant authorities and parties. Within the framework of the
discussions, the possibility of requesting an additional
deliberation by the court will also be examined."
