Could politicking lead to stonewalling at the Kotel?

Leaders invested in the implementation of a deal that would create a permanent egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem are expressing frustration and uncertainty over the announcement of a delay of the project.

Israeli Knesset members of ultra-Orthodox political parties United Torah Judaism, an Ashkenazi-affiliated party, and Shas, a Sephardic organization, have threatened to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if the agreement — which was three years in the making and was approved by the Israeli government on Jan. 31 — goes into effect. 

The agreement grants Reform and Conservative movement leaders authority over what would be a new egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel. But on March 27, Netanyahu appointed Israeli Prime Minister Bureau Chief David Sharan to oversee 60 days of discussions that will address the concerns of the ultra-Orthodox, according to Haaretz. 

Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of the Israel-based Women of the Wall, which has fought on behalf of the right of women to pray at the Wall with Torah scrolls and prayer shawls, expressed concern that 60 days will turn into an indefinite period of time. 

“Where is the integrity of the decision they decided to implement? That was the decision they voted and agreed to implement. Now they are going to open this thing up to see if implementation is possible. I don’t understand what the decision was Jan. 31. Every Israeli will tell you 60 days will not be 60 days. It will be indefinite,” Hoffman told the Journal by phone from Israel.

“Netanyahu has bowed down to pressure from the extreme Charedi, and I’m very sorry but for three years he was doing the right thing, for three years he supported a historic agreement. He realized what was going on [was] delicate and new … if he had stuck by it, this was a framework that could solve marriage, burial, freedom of divorce and [a] whole slew of issues.”

Temple Israel of Hollywood Rabbi John Ros-ove echoed Hoffman’s frustration over the government’s inaction on the deal. He characterized Netanyahu’s recent decision as pure politics: If the ultra-Orthodox groups left the government, Netanyahu’s coalition would fall apart and a new election would take place. If that came to pass, the prime minister’s party, Likud, likely would lose a majority of seats in the Israeli parliament, Rosove said.

“I would imagine that [Netanyahu] is concerned about [the delay’s] impact on the international Reform and Conservative movement, but his main concern is maintaining his government,” Rosove said.

Hoffman said the ultra-Orthodox pose an empty threat. 

“This is not going to happen. Shas is not walking out of the government, certainly not over the issue of the Wall,” she said.

She called on Diaspora Jews to pressure Netanyahu to push the agreement forward.

“I think this is a time to call for action by Diaspora Jews, the millions of Diaspora Jews, [for them to say] these recommendations are something they supported. I think it’s time to pressure Netanyahu. It’s time to tell him, ‘This is something good you’ve done, don’t let it go, call the bluff of the ultra-Orthodox.’ ”

When it was announced earlier this year, the Jewish Federations of North America, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and others welcomed the vote of approval for the new prayer space. 

Some L.A. rabbis, however, voiced ambivalence about the agreement at the time of its approval. In a recent phone interview, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, co-founder of and contributor to Cross-Currents, an online journal of Orthodox Jewish thought, and the Sydney M. Irmas Adjunct Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School, said that feeling remains. 

“I can’t say I’m disappointed [by the delay]. I don’t want to see non-Orthodox Jews, who are in the majority of the Jewish community, feel they don’t have a place of honor and distinction as Jews … but neither do I want to lose the specialness of the Kotel … Just as the original announcement was a mixed blessing, so is this, so is the delay,” he said. 

Tensions over the agreement have been most heated inside of Israel, where posters in some ultra-Orthodox areas have denounced the creation of a new space with declarations including “Western Wall to be desecrated and destroyed.”

Rosove said he observed these kinds of posters during a recent visit to the Jewish state. He said they incorporate “frightful language against the Reform and Conservative movements.” 

In L.A., debate has been less intense. A March 9 event organized by the Journal featured community leaders discussing the agreement at Pico-Robertson synagogue Temple Beth Am. Hoffman, who participated in the event, told the Journal this week that she remains optimistic about an egalitarian prayer space at the Wall coming to fruition.  

“If you are asking me if I am hopeless, not at all,” she said. “I think the Wall is the arena where we will once and for all feel the power of Diaspora Jewry.” 

Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills Senior Rabbi Laura Geller, who was also in attendance at the March event, said she hopes that whatever happens, women will ultimately have the right to pray with a Torah at the Kotel. “I think more and more, the Supreme Court [of Israel] is basically going to say, ‘OK then, leave things the way they are but give women permission to pray with a Torah,’ ” she said. “That would be fine.”