| READ: “REFORM, CONSERVATIVE LEADERS TO NETANYAHU: INCITEMENT AGAINST US COULD LEAD TO BLOODSHED” – HAARETZ by Rabbi John Rosove |
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| READ: KOTEL DEAL HEADED TO HIGH COURT? by Joshua Mitnick |
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| READ: WE CANNOT GIVE UP THE WESTERN WALL TO ULTRA-ORTHODOX ‘FORCES OF DARKNESS’ by Rabbi Leon A. Morris and Rabbi Joel Levy |
Jerusalem’s Sephardic chief rabbi on June 14 conducted an Orthodox prayer service at the mixed-gender plaza at the Western Wall, a site newly designated for Reform and Conservative worship. Accompanied by police and some two dozen worshipers, Rabbi Shomo Amar had a makeshift barrier to separate men and women erected before presiding over prayers at the site. [LINK]
Following this, the Israeli Masorti (Conservative) Movement issued a statement:
“Rabbi Amar’s provocation deliberately sabotages the Israel’s relations with world Jewry. It affects hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews who wish to pray at the Western Wall free of partitions,” a statement by the movement said.
“Using bullying, coercion and backed by the police…a partition was erected contrary to custom of the place.” it said. “During the service, Amar spoke out against the Western Wall compromise, the government and the courts — all of whom he has determined lack the authority to give the wall to anyone.”
Noting that Rabbi Amar had previously referred to Reform and Conservative Jews as “villains,” the statement called on Netanyahu to intervene.
Subsequently, the Reform and Conservative Movements organized an egalitarian prayer service on June 16 in the main Kotel plaza, in response and to protest for the implementation of the Western Wall Compromise, which PM Netanyahu’s Cabinet had approved. Violence ensued, with ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students attacking the 400 egalitarian worshipers, but the police in the vicinity did not intervene.
Click HERE for a letter to the Israel Police Inspector General from the Reform and Conservative Movements, asking him to please investigate the incident to ensure that deficits of this kind do not recur.