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Abridged and adapted from an article by Judy Maltz in Ha’aretz
After years of negotiations, non-Orthodox movements will be allowed to hold mixed prayer services for women and men at Judaism's holiest site. By a vote of 15 in favor and five against, the Israeli government on Sunday, January 31 approved a long-awaited plan to create a new area at the Western Wall where the Conservative and Reform movements will be allowed to hold prayer services for women and men together.
The new 900-square-meter section is not expected to be fully functional until a few months from now, at the earliest. Under the agreement, this egalitarian prayer section will be located at the southern expanse of the Western Wall. A temporary platform set up there two years ago by former Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett will be removed, and in its place, a much larger, permanent structure will be built. The existing gender-segregated prayer areas and the new mixed prayer section will be accessed by a common entrance; the new prayer section will enjoy equal visibility with the other sections; and it will be possible to hold official national ceremonies in the new section, where men and women can sit together and women can sing.
When Anat Hoffman, a founder of Women of the Wall, visited PAS last fall, she told us that getting an egalitarian prayer space at the Wall was the highest priority for her and her organization. Women of the Wall has agreed to move its monthly service to the new mixed section as soon as it is functioning. We celebrate with them and herald the January 31 agreement as a step in the right direction for equal rights and equal access for all visitors to the Kotel. It is a giant step forward for all of us who want the freedom to pray how and where we wish in Israel and around the world.
The Reform and Conservative movements also welcomed the new agreement, while acknowledging that reaching a compromise with the ultra-Orthodox authorities required some painful concession. For example, under the original plan unveiled by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky three years ago, the new prayer area was to have been a contiguous extension of the existing prayer areas, equal in size as well. Under the agreement that has now been hammered out, the non-Orthodox movements and Women of the Wall reneged on their demand that the new section be a copy of the existing prayer areas.
Calling the decision “groundbreaking,” Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, noted that this was the first time the government of Israel had provided official recognition to the pluralistic movements. “Once and for all, the government has put an end to the ultra-Orthodox monopoly at the Kotel and has determined that at this most holy site for the Jewish people, there will be more than one way of praying and connecting to Jewish tradition,” he said.
In a statement, Women of the Wall lauded the new plan as “the first step to women’s full equality and empowerment at the Western Wall – the holiest site for Jews and a public space in Israel.” The group said that the creation of a third egalitarian section “sets a strong precedent in women’s status in Israel – women as administrators of a holy site, women as leaders, women as an influential force not to be ignored or silenced.” In a joint statement, leaders of the world Conservative movement said they were “thrilled to witness our efforts resulting in recognition of the diversity and pluralistic nature of the Jewish people, as well as the legitimacy of the Conservative and Reform religious streams."
Yizhar Hess, the director of the Conservative Jewish movement in Israel, called the move "historic," saying that "the right to equality" has received government recognition. From now issues such as conversion and marriage and kashrut will all have to be approached based on "the simple, basic and natural fact that there is more than one way to be Jewish."
Signed by movement leaders in the United States and in Israel, the statement said: “Twenty-five years in the making, the decision brings us measurably closer to the simple, basic fact that there is more than one way to be Jewish and that there should be ‘One Wall for One People.’” The Conservative movement leaders noted that they were the first to support the creation of an alternative space for the non-Orthodox movements and have consistently made use, at their own expense, of the archeological excavation known as “Robinson’s Arch” in the southern expanse of the Western Wall for prayer services and bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.
Under the terms of the agreement, the new prayer area will qualify for government funding and be operated by a council comprised of representatives of the government, the Reform and Conservative movements, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish Federations of North America, and Women of the Wall.
We live in circumstances that our ancestors only dreamed about: with a sovereign Jewish state in the land of Israel. Recognizing there are necessary steps that need to be taken in order to implement the plan, Park Avenue Synagogue celebrates this historic compromise that redefines the relationship between religion and state in Israel. In addition, we rejoice in this critical step that will assure religious freedom for ALL Jews in our miraculous homeland.