The Reform and Conservative Movements have informed the High Court of Justice they insist on the Kosel arrangement that was decided upon by the cabinet, and later retracted due to objections from chareidi parties. Ahead of the court session on Thursday, 9 Elul, they informed the court they are calling for implementation of the cabinet arrangement that was approved.
According to the report released by Yehuda Schlesinger in Yisrael Hayom, they are joined by the Women of the Wall (WoW) organization, all calling on the court to have the cabinet-approved arrangement implemented.
In the 27-page response, they are calling to allocate the Kosel HaDromi, referring to Rachvat Yisrael (Robinson’s Arch) as agreement too in the original plan. In addition, they are asking for an area of the Kosel Plaza and representation in the Kosel Heritage Foundation, which operates the Kosel.
This also shows their intention to receive recognition in Israel, which they have not achieved to date.
Their willingness to accept the area of the Kosel HaDromi comes with the demand the latter be included in the Kosel complex, connected to the current Kosel Plaza by an easily accessible connective path thereby anchoring the nature of the expansion of regulations and the management of the site by a council in which the Reform will be represented.
The petitioners continue to request that “in view of the Government’s decision to delay the implementation, the basic principles according to which the respondents are obligated to act in an egalitarian manner that respects the right of the petitioners to pray as they stand on the most sacred site of the Jewish people – the Kosel, as defined in the Regulations for the Preservation of Jewish Holy Places.”
“While the Chief Rabbinate claimed in its response to the High Court that the court has no authority to deal with religious issues, based on previous rulings, the non-Orthodox movements reject the claim”.
“We cannot accept a situation in which the Kosel Heritage Foundation, which has a number of important roles and powers regarding the operation of the Kosel, will give voice and expression only to chareidi Judaism, and will not give any representation to the streams and Women of the Kosel” the response includes.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Why do they want to be associated with a site so vile to their (made-up) religion? Each statement below is repeated word for word from reform’s official website:
In contrast to traditional streams of Judaism, liberal Judaism never has assigned a central religious role to the ancient Temple. Therefore, mourning the destruction of the Temple may not be particularly meaningful to liberal Jews.
the rebuilding of a central Temple in Jerusalem has lost its priority and significance in modern times
I express gratitude for the Judaism that has been bequeathed to us over the years, a Judaism that no longer slaughters animals and sprinkles their blood as a sign of gratitude or as a petition to God. I celebrate the fact that a Judaism with[] the Temple and its hereditary priestly class has been replaced.
Reform rabbis meeting in Pittsburgh in 1885 rejected the traditional hope of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. “We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron.”
Let me start by being very clear: I don’t yearn for a return to sacrificial rites, holy priests, or incense-burning in the Temple. I don’t miss the Temple itself, nor is the Western Wall a particular source of inspiration or empowerment for me.
It is a good thing that Conservative and Reform Jew want to come to the Kotel. Since 1967 they were happy to come with everyone else. What changed was the violence perpetrated by some charedim against the Women of the Wall (who had been holding Rosh Chodesh services at the Kotel for three decades before someone decided to become outraged by their presence) which caused some Conservative and Reform Jews to desire a separate and safe place in which to pray and which gave them public support to receive such a space at the Kotel.
may Hashem erase all these parasites bimhera beyamenu
Every mitzva that these reform women want to perform is known to us only through the Oral Torah, i.e., the Gemara and Midrashim. These books are not authoritative according to the reform and conservative movements. Ergo, everything that is sourced from the Gemara is an Orthodox practice — derived from the Oral Torah. So, Tefillin as we know them, blowing shofar (and not say, a trumpet), davening with a minyan, the calculation of Rosh Chodesh that is followed nowadays, are all Orthodox practices. The importance of the Kosel itself only appears in the Orthodox Gemara and Midrash.
None of their demands make the slightest bit of sense according to reform doctrine.
Also, they do not believe in prayer and they also do not necessarily believe in the God towards whom prayers are directed.
In summary:
1) they are not Jews by any definition other than their own (80% intermarriage rate; 1/8 reforms are converts.)
2) they hate solomon’s temple and the animal sacrificies and presitly hierarchy that it represented
3) they do not believe in daily prayer or monthly prayer and other than at the Kotel they do not have daily or monthly prayers at any reform temple in the world
4) many do not believe in the God towards whom prayer is directed
5) most of them believe that old city of Jerusalem is Arab owned occupied territory
6) they reject the rabbinic conventions and oral law which they believe invented tefillin or Torah reading
But they want to pray daily or monthly with a Sefer Torah at the Kotel????
The pastafarians have as much a right to create a prayer space at the Kotel. In my rough and tumble youth I would tell them to just GT-O here. I would sooner and would rather a Mosque at the Kotel.
and if some Protestant group demands space in the Holy Sephacre the High Court has jurisdiction to decide the matter?
Reform and Conservative followers are told that they are practising Judaism when in fact they’re not practicing Judaism at all. The Reform and Conservative leaders are liars and frauds. They don’t believe that Hashem gave us his Torah. Some don’t even believe in Hashem. What a racket!
We are all responsible for our fellow Yidden. When you meet a Yid who was fooled by these phony Reform or Conservative crooks, invite him to your home for a Shabbos meal. If the person is truly a Yid, his neshomo may just light up enough to enjoy the Kedushas of Shabbos, You may find a “Rebbi Akiva” who will become a Talmid Chochom or a “Ruth” who will join our community. Kol Yisroel Areyvim Zeh B’Zeh.