Western Walls

Rabbi Avi Shafran

Since its liberation from Jordan in 1967, Jerusalem's Kotel Ma'aravi, or "Western Wall", has been a spiritual magnet for Jews of all denominations and beliefs.

While no one monitors what prayer-books visitors use at the site or if head-coverings are worn, the essential layout of the prayer-area there reflects the requirements of halacha, or Jewish religious law, for a synagogue: men on one side of a partition, women on the other; and women do not pray loudly enough for the men to hear them. Public services at the holy site have likewise been conducted in accordance with classical Jewish tradition. It is a historic site – the remnant of the courtyard wall of the Second Holy Temple – and conduct there has accordingly reflected that fact.

Over past years, though, "egalitarian" prayer-gatherings at the Kotel have been organized by non-Orthodox Jewish activists, predictably provoking hurt and anger (even, inexcusably, some violence) among the thousands of traditional Jews present on the occasions. And a group of women – the "Women of the Wall" – filed suit to allow it to conduct its own public prayer session at the Kotel, in pointed contrast to how women have prayed there for thousands of years. Recently, Israel's High Court ruled that the government must accommodate that group.

Critics of the nontraditional prayer groups point out that the vast majority of the Wall's regular visitors are ardently Orthodox Jews. And that whatever one may personally think of mixed-gender services and chanting women, such things offend the Orthodox. Sensitive folk of good will, after all, would never think of entering a mosque with shoes on -- or a closed space with a lit cigarette.

They note, too, that there is no limit to what could legitimately be demanded were Jewish tradition jettisoned as the public norm at the Kotel. Would not "Messianic Jews" assert a right to mount crosses for their services at the Wall? Might not anti-Zionist Jews wish to burn Israeli flags there?

Proponents of the non-traditional groups essentially say "Let a thousand flowers bloom" – the Kotel, they maintain, belongs to all Jews. Some have even proposed assigning separate parts of the Wall to different Jewish groups.

That, at least to this Jew, would be a true Jewish tragedy in the making.

Because for more than three decades, the Kotel has been a place – perhaps the only one in the world – where Jews of all affiliations and persuasions have regularly prayed side by side. That has been possible because of the good will of non-Orthodox Jews – Israelis and Westerners alike – who, though they may opt for very different services in their own homes, synagogues or temples, have accepted the "highest common denominator" of Jewish tradition for the most Jewishly historic spot on earth.

Imagine, though, a "balkanized" Kotel, Orthodox Jews here, Reform there, Conservative in the corner and a special women's group reading the Torah at the far end. A sad real-time symbol of the state of our sad disharmony.

Could any truly caring Jew – of whatever prefix – really want to hammer that horrid, heavy nail into the coffin of Jewish unity?

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AM ECHAD RESOURCES

Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and American director of Am Echad