Israel’s Chief Rabbinate said it had not agreed to the expanded egalitarian area of the Western Wall on the same day that some 150 Reform rabbis held a prayer service at the site of the proposed expansion.
The Feb. 25 service at Robinson’s Arch, the egalitarian prayer site at the Wall, was part of the annual conference of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the U.S. Reform movement’s main rabbinic body. The gathering was held in Israel during the last week of February. Approximately 150 male and female rabbis took part in the service, which included the traditional Thursday morning Torah reading, according to media reports.
“The prayers of hundreds of people and Reform rabbis at the Western Wall is the ultimate answer to the incitement of the ultra-Orthodox leadership,” Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, told the Jerusalem Post. “They continue to incite and we continue to create a more pluralistic and tolerant reality in Israel.”
Bay Area Reform rabbis who took part in the historic service included Ryan Bauer of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, Dan Feder of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Dennis Eisner of Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, Nicki Greninger of Temple Isaiah in Lafayette and Melanie Aron of Shir Hadash in Los Gatos.
That afternoon, the Chief Rabbinate Council issued a statement demanding the government freeze the plans approved last month to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Wall until after the government officially consults with the Rabbinate. It called the decision to expand the prayer site “illegal,” saying that only the Religious Affairs Ministry has the authority to designate such new religious sites.
The council also said the committee that planned the site — including government representatives, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Women of the Wall, and the Reform and Conservative movements — did not have the authority to make the recommendations, rendering them invalid.
Kariv told the Times of Israel that the Rabbinate had been involved in discussions about the site and had given its consent. Kariv said the Rabbinate was acting with “shameful cowardice” in the face of haredi Orthodox opposition to the plan. — jta & j. staff