Lesley Sachs, Director of “Women of the Wall” arguing with a police officer back in October because she’s wearing a tallit while praying at the Kotel (which is currently against Israeli law).
Below, you’ll find the text of a letter that I just sent to Chairman Natan Sharansky of the Jewish Agency. As you may have read in the news recently (click here for an example), in response to international outcry over the treatment of women praying at the wall, Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked Chairman Sharansky to suggest ways to better accommodate the diversity of Jewish religious practice at the Kotel (Western Wall).
I hope you’ll join me in reaching out to Chairman Sharansky and urging him to take significant steps towards guaranteeing Jewish religious freedom and equality at the Kotel. You can do so via the IRAC (Israel Religious Action Center) site by clicking here. While it’s always difficult to be certain, this turn of events may be a watershed moment for advancing the issue of religious freedom in Israel and the unity of the Jewish people.
{My letter follows}
Dear Chairman Sharansky,
I am thrilled that you will be studying the issue of Jewish religious freedom at the Kotel. I believe it ought to be possible for every Jew who holds the Kotel a powerful symbol to pray there fully and freely. It has long seemed at best ironic and, at worst, shameful that all Jews are not able to pray free of harassment or fear at the holiest Jewish site in the world. Despite our rich variety, in the heart of Jerusalem and at the heart of the Jewish people, we should aspire to live as one people with one heart.
I recognize that in order for such an ideal to become reality, all sides will need to make compromises. As we teach our children, such compromise is the inevitable prerequisite for sharing something that we treasure. We have to be willing to allow others to use it and sometimes, to do so in a way that is different from our own custom or preference. But surely for a people who has survived so much and reinvented itself so many times, this goal is attainable.
The Kotel does not belong to Orthodox Jews or Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist Jews. It is the legacy of all Jews–of “Am Yisrael.” And therefore, the issue you will be considering is a test of our aspiration to live as “Am Echad.” It is a measure of Israel’s continuing capacity to unite the Jews of the world in common identity and vision. Can we find the creativity, the generosity of spirit and the flexibility to share a site that ultimately must belong to all of us? I hope so.
I pray for your every success in responding to this urgent and complex challenge and thank you for your service to our people.
Rabbi Jonathan Kraus
See the original article here: http://blogs.betheltemplecenter.org/jkraus/2012/12/26/sharing-the-kotel-western-wall/
