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| The riots at the Western Wall - Western Wall Heritage Foundation (A7) |
The truth is that the Kotel did not have separate sections pre-state
under the British Mandate. Men and women can be seen praying together in
pre-state archival pictures of the Kotel. Men and women do not need a mechitza
to pray - even with a minyan - unless they are in a shul.
So why separate them at the Kotel?
First, because one could argue that sections of the Kotel
have essentially become shuls, with an Aron Kodesh and a bimah in several
places there permanently.
Second, because of the huge crowds that can often congregate
there, rabbinic authorities thought it wise to separate the sexes for purposes
of simple modesty. That is the status quo, and it has been that way for almost
60 years.
Heterodoxy never requires separation of the sexes during
prayer. They allow men and women to pray together in their synagogues and
temples. They demanded that their traditions be honored at the Kotel when they
pray there. A demand fought vigorously by Orthodoxy.
Long story short, in order to preserve the status quo
Orthodox nature of the Kotel, an agreement was reached whereby another section
could be used by them for purposes of mixed-gender prayer.
That situation has remained the same and had pretty much
kept the peace for a while.
The problem was that it was never developed into a
user-friendly area. Ultimately the Reform movement brought the issue before
Israel’s Supreme Court. And as JTA reports, the following happened:
Israel’s highest court has delivered a unanimous rebuke to state and municipal authorities over long-stalled plans to upgrade the Western Wall’s egalitarian prayer section, intensifying a dispute that has come to symbolize broader tensions over religious pluralism in Israel.
In a decision issued Thursday, an expanded seven-justice panel of the High Court of Justice ordered the national government and the Jerusalem Municipality to move forward with building permits needed for repairs and infrastructure improvements at the Ezrat Israel prayer platform, the area designated for mixed-gender and non-Orthodox worship south of the main Western Wall plaza.
This ruling brought an angry response from Israel’s Heritage
Minister, Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu - a far-right member of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma
Yehudit party. Eliyahu excoriated the justices who ruled in favor of the Reform
movement - and the Reform movement itself - for promoting an egalitarian issue
during a time of war, when Jewish soldiers were losing life and limb on the
battlefield. Instead of expressing sympathy and support, he accused them of
expressing scorn and defaming the IDF, reserving sympathy only for Palestinians
in Gaza. And now, to put it the way Eliyahu does, demanding a prize for it at
the Western Wall.
To say the least, I am no fan of Eliyahu’s party...
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