#0202_A_View_From_Haredi_Jerusalem
Legislative Change Against Reform Organizations at Western Wall
“The Chief Rabbinate of Israel [1] debates legislative change to stop desecration of Western Wall [2]
Senior representatives from the State Attorney’s Office visited the Western Wall in response to the provocation of Reform organizations.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel debated ways to deal with the provocations of Reform organizations at the Western Wall. The council will institute rulings regarding the Western Wall.
All of the rulings regarding the Western Wall are established in accordance with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. The rulings are expected to bring an end to the provocations of Reform organizations, especially after the events at this past Rosh Chodesh [3].
This past Rosh Chodesh, Reform organizations planned tremendous provocations but they ended up failing. At first, they announced that they were organizing a protest of 1000 people. They asked the Rabbi of the Western Wall to allow their female hazzan [4] to sing the prayers on the speaker system.
The request of the Reform women was supported by the Attorney General, Erez Kaminitz. He wrote a letter to the Rabbi of the Western Wall saying that he supported the Reform women’s request to receive a loud speaker to perform their prayers.
One Rabbi responded by saying, ‘The Western Wall is a holy place, it is considered a mini temple and it is not acceptable to behave this way there. These women’s purpose is to desecrate what is holy to the Jewish People. And now they want to use a speaker system to even more terribly desecrate the holy site’.
One Rabbi said that, ‘According to the law the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is the only authority responsible for the holiness of the site, they are the ones who determine what will take place there and they are the ones who must make sure that the holiness of the site is preserved.I ask the council to do everything in order to prevent the desecration of the site’.
In response to the provocations on Rosh Chodesh 15,000 people came to participate in a celebratory prayer service. Thousands of them were religious students from around the country. So many people came that there were delays at the mandatory security checks into the site.
After the prayer service Israel Police denounced the provocations of the Reform organizations. They stated, ‘Some of the women came to the Western Wall with the intent to create tension and provocation, against the requests of the police that they pray in the women’s section’.”
▶️ Source: Ladaat
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0202 Editor’s Notes:
[1] The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel.
[2] The Western Wall is a holy site located in Jerusalem. It is the last surviving wall of the Jewish Temple. It has a designated prayer sections for women and men in accordance with the rulings of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
[3] Rosh Chodesh is a celebratory day honouring the first day of the Jewish month. There are special prayers recited and they are typically accompanied by dance and song.
[4] The hazzan is the leader of the Jewish prayers/cantor. According to Orthodox Judaism the hazzan must be a male whereas Reform Judaism believes it can also be a female.
For a previous West Jerusalem view about this, see: https://bit.ly/2HwYUJC
#Women_Of_The_Wall #Western_Wall
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