Ultra-Orthodox Win Race to the Kotel
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Today, Haredi activists headed en masse to the women’s section of the Western Wall before the interdenominational feminist group Women of the Wall (WOW) were due to assemble for their monthly prayer service. Citing concern for the women’s’ “personal safety” police said that the high concentration of Haredi opponents to the group assembled by the Kotel meant that WOW had to be kept away, and conduct their prayer service further than normal from the Wall.
Essentially, Haredim have taken advantage of the police ethos which, last month, worked against them. A month ago WOW got to the Wall first, and police kept other women, mostly Haredi women away, as we discussed here. The Haredim learned last month that the police’s attitude to the Wall is, simply put, first come first served. So this time, they decided to get there first, and wait for the police to exclude WOW.
Now, both sides, WOW and their opponents, have taken a turn at getting there first and excluding the other. What now?
It’s not sustainable that each month there will be a race to the Wall. Will women start pitching tents the night before like kids lining up for concert tickets? The police will inevitably need to find a way of managing tensions by the Wall and allowing both groups of women to approach at the same time.
Beyond this, today’s events will reinvigorate the lobby that wants to see the Sharansky plan for an egalitarian prayer section at the Wall reinvigorated. Last month, when all was rosy with the WOW prayer, there was some speculation that the need for an egalitarian section was fading — after all liberal women had successfully held prayers by the Wall with police help. The scene today was a reminded that WOW is making headway, but its achievements are a work in progress.
As the Forward has reported, there are differences in the priorities of WOW and the Reform/Conservative mainstream Jews. WOW is an activist group that is game for a monthly battle of the wills, but most Reform and Conservative Jews just want to pray-and-go. And to progress that desire, they have the Sharansky plan.
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