{"id":4025,"date":"2012-11-29T10:24:33","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T16:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=4025"},"modified":"2012-11-29T10:36:02","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T16:36:02","slug":"despite-mounting-criticism-western-wall-remains-in-haredi-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/despite-mounting-criticism-western-wall-remains-in-haredi-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite mounting criticism, Western Wall remains in haredi hands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SALES<\/p>\n<p>JERUSALEM (JTA) &#8212; Sitting in his office 20 feet above the Western Wall Plaza, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz is unperturbed by the simmering tensions below.\u00a0For years, Israeli and American Jewish groups have agitated for greater religious freedom at the Wall, which currently allows for only Orthodox worship. Occasionally the outrage boils over.<\/p>\n<p>In October, Israeli police arrested Anat Hoffman, the chairperson of Women of the Wall, a group that organizes monthly women&#8217;s services at the holy site, for wearing a tallit, or prayer shawl.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4029\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4029\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4029 lazyload\" title=\"2 Kotel tunnel\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4029\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4029 \" title=\"2 Kotel tunnel\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/2-Kotel-tunnel-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4029\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Men praying in the Western Wall&#39;s tunnel, where staff store the Kotel&#39;s siddurs and torahs. (Ben Sales)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As the chief rabbi of the Kotel, as the Western Wall is known in Hebrew,\u00a0and chair of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the government funded non-profit that governs the wall, Rabinowitz has sole authority to accommodate liberal Jewish practices.<\/p>\n<p>But as a haredi Orthodox rabbi, Rabinowitz refuses to abide any deviation from traditional Jewish law, which prohibits women from singing aloud, reading the Torah and wearing a tallit at the Kotel. Violations are punishable by up to six months in prison or a fine of about $125.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decisions are mine,\u201d Rabinowitz said. \u201cIf everyone does their own custom, the house will explode.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rabinowitz is a political appointee, named to his post in 2000 by then-Minister of Religious Affairs Yossi Beilin. His authority stems from a 1981 law that gives the Kotel\u2019s chief rabbi power to \u201cgive instructions and ensure the enforcement of restrictions.\u201d The law also establishes that any prayer at the Kotel must be according to \u201clocal custom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Who determines local custom? Rabinowitz.<\/p>\n<p>Rabinowitz further exercises authority through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.\u00a0Founded in 1988 to promote tourism and support the Kotel\u2019s physical upkeep, the foundation is now a government subsidiary, given full authority over the Kotel&#8217;s administration in 2004. Last year it received nearly $8.5 million in government funds, the bulk of its budget. The foundation&#8217;s 15-member board includes no non-Orthodox representatives and steadfastly has resisted attempts to legalize non-Orthodox worship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe body which has been given the keys of the Kotel by the Israeli government is a non-democratic, non-elected body,\u201d said Lesley Sachs, Women of the Wall\u2019s director. \u201cIt\u2019s not a body that gives any kind of representation to world Jewry or Israeli Jewry. They have turned [the Kotel] into a haredi synagogue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critics charge that Rabinowitz has carte blanche to do what he likes, but the rabbi insists he doesn&#8217;t \u201cchange things.\u201d He merely applies millennia-old Jewish laws.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the order that\u2019s been there for 45 years,\u201d he said, referring to the period since 1967, when Israel conquered the Kotel from Jordanian control.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4031\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4031\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4031 lazyload\" title=\"1 Kotel Usher\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4031\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4031 \" title=\"1 Kotel Usher\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/1-Kotel-Usher-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the Western Wall&#39;s informational ushers sitting at his desk. The informational ushers are responsible for enforcing the Wall&#39;s religious restrictions. (Ben Sales)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Prior to Israeli control, things were different. Photos from the British Mandate period show worshipers praying at the wall without a mechitzah, the religious divider that slices the plaza into separate sections for men and women. But Rabinowitz says the photos are meaningless, since the wall wasn&#8217;t under Jewish sovereignty at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey couldn\u2019t read Torah or blow the shofar,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could hardly pray there. The British did terrible things. You want to go back to that? The British didn\u2019t establish local custom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rabinowitz calls the Kotel \u201cthe biggest synagogue in the world,\u201d and it&#8217;s almost certainly the busiest, with 8 million visitors annually. The courtyard of 22,000 square feet that abuts the Kotel hosts constant, simultaneous prayer groups, in addition to rows of people resting their foreheads on the ancient stones, yelling their prayers or placing notes in the Kotel\u2019s cracks. In the women&#8217;s section, which is about a third the size of the men\u2019s, group prayer is much rarer because women are not allowed to sing out loud or read Torah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPraying at the Kotel is a disaster area,\u201d said Rabbi Jay Karzen, who has been officiating at Kotel bar mitzvahs since 1985. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have 20 to 30 simultaneous bar mitzvahs and everyone is doing their own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite its apparent chaos, though, the Kotel is a tight ship. \u201cOrganizational\u201d ushers, working in teams of 10, patrol the plaza around the clock, stacking chairs, pushing mops across a shiny floor of Jerusalem stone and returning used prayer books to surprisingly orderly shelves. Although visitors come and go constantly, few books are stolen.<\/p>\n<p>Enforcing the Kotel\u2019s religious restrictions falls to \u201cinformational\u201d ushers who sit on the men\u2019s side near a box of yarmulkes for visitors who arrive without one. While religious laws on prayer and modest dress can be complex, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has boiled them down to seven rules posted on a placard near the entrance. Karzen says disciplinary action is rare.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4028\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4028\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4028 lazyload\" title=\"3 Kotel kipot\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4028\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4028 \" title=\"3 Kotel kipot\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/3-Kotel-kipot-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Men taking kipot at the entrance to the Western Wall. The Wall&#39;s chief rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, mandates that men wear headcoverings there. (Ben Sales)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cPeople come there to do their own thing,\u201d Karzen said. \u201cMostly people cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biggest exception may be Women of the Wall, which has met at the back of the women\u2019s section at the beginning of every new Jewish month since 1988. Over the years, the group has faced arrest by the police and occasional harassment. So far, though, no one has succeeded in changing the 1981 law, despite several attempts.<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s Supreme Court repeatedly has rejected Women of the Wall\u2019s petitions for a change in local custom, most recently in 2003. In that ruling, the court suggested that the group pray at Robinson\u2019s Arch, an area adjacent to the Kotel that is open to non-Orthodox prayer. The group rejected the option.<\/p>\n<p>Now the Israel Religious Action Center, an advocacy group affiliated with the American Union for Reform Judaism, plans to petition the Supreme Court to mandate a change in the makeup of the foundation&#8217;s board. While Rabinowitz would still hold ultimate Jewish legal authority over the Kotel, it is hoped that the board can provide a check on his power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re the ones with the budget,\u201d said Einat Hurwitz, who heads the center&#8217;s legal department. \u201cThe Kotel gets money from this group. If it becomes more pluralist, it will affect the separation between men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear whether the latest effort will gain traction. Nitzan Horowitz, a parliamentarian from the left-wing Meretz party and chair of the Knesset\u2019s religion and state lobby, believes the courts are not the most effective forum for change on this issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are things the courts can do and the media can do and protests can do, but the deciding factor in the end is a political decision,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n<p>Or a religious one, made by Rabinowitz. Sitting high above the Kotel, protected by law from his ideological adversaries, he sees Women of the Wall as more of a nuisance than a threat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a group of women that yell and want to make an event,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s order. You can\u2019t just do what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Despite%20mounting%20criticism%2C%20Western%20Wall%20remains%20in%20haredi%20hands\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[866,8790,8795,531,8788,1339,1030,533],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4025"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4027,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions\/4027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}