Came across this on the web. There are religious wackos everywhere.
Dear friends of IRAC,
As many of you know I was arrested last year holding a torah scroll at the Western Wall. My charge? The intent to read. There is a chance I may face a fine and imprisonment. How has the holiest site of the Jewish people become a place where I am arrested for practicing my religion?
The Western wall is run by a governmental not for profit organization called The Western Wall Heritage Association. The association used to be private and was composed of exclusively Orthodox individuals. In the past few years the government of Israel has appointed the board of directors for the NGO. Yet, the board is still composed of exclusively Orthodox individuals. The head of the association is Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch who has allowed the Western Wall to become an ultra-Orthodox synagogue. We have handed over the keys of the holiest site of the Jewish people to an extremist minority.
In recent years the foundation has become extreme in its requests for modesty. The mighty partition that segregates men and women has moved over. The Wall's prayer area used to be divided equally down the middle. Now the women have 12 meters and the men have 48 meters. The men literally have four times as much space as the women to pray. Eight months ago Rabbi Rabinovitch decided that no one can bring in a Torah scroll to the Western Wall without his explicit permission. Needless to say he will not allow a Torah scroll for any ceremony that is not strictly Orthodox. Obviously, bat mitzvahs are not allowed. The only segregated walkway in Israel is in the back of the Kotel plaza where only men are allowed to walk. There are now rulings that you are not allowed to kiss your children in the plaza or drink water. Things have gone too far.
IRAC is submitting a petition demanding that the association that runs the Kotel start representing all stakeholders. Catering to one small portion of the Jewish population is unacceptable when it concerns a religious, national, and historical site of this magnitude. We are asking for the committee to include archaeologists, historians, conservative and reform rabbis and a representative of the Ministry of Tourism. They should all have a say in what happens at a site that means so much to us all.
We dream for the Wall as a place where all denominations of Judaism can pray freely, where there are Torah scrolls on both sides of the partition, where a grandma can hold her grandson’s hand as he becomes a bar-mitzvah and where among the 20,000 bar mitzvahs celebrated there every year there are many bat mitzvahs as well.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a holy place that is open and respectful for all. It will radiate the confidence of a sovereign Jewish state that contains pluralism, diversity, and variety. It will be a place that adheres to the words of the prophet Isaiah “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)
L’shalom,
Anat Hoffman
P.S. Read the Women's Rabbinic Network's stand against gender segregation in Israel including a reference to our freedom rides.
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