In Greek mythology, Procrustes was an innkeeper who stretched out or chopped up his overnight guests to fit them into a rigid iron bed.
So, too, does Natan Sharansky propose stretching out the Western Wall to fit the demands of a people who cannot agree on a solution to prayer at this holiest of Jewish sites. Although his plan is not perfect, it is a solution — and unlike that of Procrustes, it involves no bloodshed.
Sharansky, the chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, announced his plan April 9 in New York, and will formally present it to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As reported in our story on page 13, it’s a simple plan: Keep the existing men’s and women’s sections, but extend the Kotel plaza to include an adjacent archaeological site that would be open to mixed-gender prayer. Presumably, women who wished to pray with tallit and tefillin could do so there.
The proposal has a couple of problems — the main one being that women already are permitted to pray at this location in full ritual garb, albeit only at certain times. While this new plan would fully open it to egalitarian worship, solving the immediate demand of the Women of the Wall, it does not address the larger question of who “owns” the Kotel.
The answer? The Jewish people own the Kotel.
The Kotel is the single most important piece of Jewish archaeological history still extant. It is the most recognizable physical symbol of Jewish history and Jewish unity, particularly for Jews in the diaspora. And therein lies the significance of this struggle. While the issue may not concern most Israelis, American Jews care about it, and care about it deeply.
American Jews who visit Israel go to the Wall by the busload. They put notes in the Wall. They touch it. And in doing so, they access a deep connection to their history and their people. Anything that disrupts that access, or sullies the image of the Wall as the centerpiece of Jewish freedom in the land of Israel, is very troubling.
As Sharansky put it, the Wall should unite us, not divide us.
Opposition to the plan is expected in Israel, from the ultra-Orthodox to the Islamic Waqf (it would cut into a bridge to the Temple Mount). But diaspora Jews will accept it: Reform, Conservative and Orthodox leaders signaled their approval this week in New York.
Even Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the haredi Orthodox rabbi in charge of the Wall, told Sharansky he could “live with it.”
American Jews can’t live without it. We urge Israel to accept Sharansky’s proposal and open up the Kotel to pluralist prayer.