JERUSALEM — Though I live in Jerusalem within walking distance to the Western Wall (the Kotel), I never go to pray there – for religious reasons. Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great 20th century Jewish thinker, has taught that Judaism doesn’t have holy places, only holy events. We celebrate time, not space.
After infrequent visits to attend Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrations at the Kotel, I’ve come away troubled by how an event marking religious coming of age and membership of a community has been turned into a sacrament. Even the noun has become a verb: “I was barmitzvahed.”
When I served congregations I’d plead with members to celebrate in their home synagogue and go on trips to Israel afterwards or before. I incurred the wrath of some travel agents who had made a business of the sacrament. And several of my Israeli colleagues weren’t pleased because I implicitly challenged their way of augmenting their meager salaries by officiating.
Yet, despite my views about the Kotel, I attended a demonstration in the beginning of this month outside Prime Minister Netanyahu’s official residence to express dismay at the latest decisions of his government. One was about reneging on an earlier undertaking to make the Kotel equally accessible to all streams in Judaism. The decision had been rescinded to placate the ultra-Orthodox members of his government.
Together with many Jews across denominational divides I came to affirm that the Kotel is a national monument, not an Orthodox synagogue. (Who can forget the photograph of the paratroopers when they got there in the 1967 War?) If Jews want to gather there for prayer, so be it, but don’t impose the rules of one religious stream on them all.
An even more important reason to demonstrate was the decision to enact a law that would put all conversions to Judaism in the hands of the Orthodox (Haredi) Rabbinate in Israel. This isn’t just an issue between traditionalists and liberals. It also seeks to disqualify Orthodox authorities in the Diaspora. Thus, despite the pious rhetoric about the bonds between Israel and world Jewry, the move will disrupt the unity of the Jewish people and its commitment to the Jewish state.
The proposed conversion decision renders illegitimate all other ways of being Jewish both in Israel and in the Diaspora. Conversions under the auspices of Orthodox rabbis outside Israel would become as unacceptable to the Orthodox establishment in Israel as the conversions by non-Orthodox rabbinic authorities everywhere. The blacklist is interdenominational.
Some half-a-million Israelis are now not allowed to marry because of their allegedly questionable status as Jews. And some 25 percent of Israeli couples are said to refuse to be married under the auspices of the Orthodox Rabbinate. They either seek out non-authorized officiants in Israel or go abroad to register their marriage or live as common law couples.
If the ultra-Orthodox succeed to get the present government to do their bidding, they’ll no doubt find more ways of inhibiting life in Israel, e.g., closing down food stores and restaurants now open on Shabbat, prohibiting all forms of public transport on Sabbaths and Festivals, tighten the already strict and often inconsistent rules about kashrut. The Jewish state may become Haredistan.
Mercifully, the reaction both in Israel and abroad has been forceful and consistent. Even bodies that normally do the bidding of the government of Israel like the Jewish Agency or AIPAC have come out strongly against these latest signs of Orthodox hegemony. Jewish solidarity is being forged through opposition to Netanyahu and his coalition.
There’re signs that he’s taking note. We now hear statements to the effect that the prime minister will find a way of keeping all parties reasonably satisfied. As a first step, the proposed legislation about conversion has been postponed until the end of this year. The assumption is that some compromise will be found. Whether or not this will be enough remains to be seen.
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Rabbi Dow Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada. Now a resident citizen of Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com
Thank you for this insightful article. For me your fifth paragraph sums it up:
” . . . the Kotel is a national monument, not an Orthodox synagogue. (Who can forget the photograph of the paratroopers when they got there in the 1967 War?) If Jews want to gather there for prayer, so be it, but don’t impose the rules of one religious stream on them all.”