A n October 30 New York Times article “Jews of the Diaspora Bring Their Cause to the Israeli Public” reported the announcement of a major public relations campaign by American Reform and Conservative leaders joined by the Jewish Agency to bring their case for “religious freedom” to the Israeli public and Knesset lawmakers.
Rich Jacobs head of the Union of Reform Judaism told The Times “The assumptions and mistaken understandings [among Israeli Jews] of what world Jewry is about are legion.” It would be interesting to know what those mistaken assumptions might be. The Times did not elaborate.
Perhaps Jacobs will seek to convince Israeli Jews that the section provided for non-traditional prayer at the Kosel is totally inadequate to their needs despite the government promises to significantly expand and spruce up the area. But the visual evidence belies such a claim. The area set aside since 2003 for mixed men and women’s prayer at Robinson’s Arch is almost always empty and has never been filled to overflowing.
One million Jews visited the Kosel from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Succos. There are as many men and women davening there in the early hours of the morning on any given night as will appear at Robinson’s Arch in the average month. By what logic do the heterodox demand a co-equal space for about one-thousandth the number of Jews as those who come to the Kosel throughout the year?
