Last Friday it was “Rosh Hodesh”, the first day of the new month of “Av”, in the Jewish calendar, and, as has been the case for months now, the ceremonies held by the “Women of the Wall” organization were violently disrupted by hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox men and women. The religious ceremonies held for the beginning of a new month, include readings from the Torah and prayers. The Women of the Wall organization has been (trying) to hold prayers at the Western Wall for many months, but have repeatedly been harassed.
The establishment of an “Egalitarian” section at the far end of the Wall has been discussed for many years and finally in 2016, the Israeli government decided on establishing an area where non-Orthodox Jews could give expression to their religion without the interference of orthodox sources. However, under very large pressure from the Ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset, the then prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, surrendered and froze the decision., which in effect meant the end of the Egalitarian section as long as the Ultra-Orthodox parties have the power to prevent it from happening. Since then, a rudimentary area has been available for the Reform and Conservative Jews who wish to worship in their own way, but none of the plans to expand it, improve it or give it a normal access, have been undertaken.
Even the “Government of Change” that has been in power for almost a year, would not burn itself on this hot potato, until last month a Bar Mitzvah ceremony held at the provisional Egalitarian Section was disrupted with the Ultra-Orthodox youngsters who swarmed the section, totally preventing from any type of ceremony taking place through screaming, the use of whistles and even ripping up a prayer book, while calling the worshippers “Nazis” and “animals”. But of course, the fall of this government will halt any renewed plans they may have had and nothing will happen for months again.
While the Orthodox politicians talk about the “loss of the Jewish Character” of Israel, about “defiling the sanctity of the Western Wall”, it is clear that this is no more than a struggle for power and control.
Jewish life, and most of life in general in Israel is controlled by Ultra-orthodox institutions and organizations that have obtained from the State the almost exclusive rights to many daily life events, including marriage, burial, kosher declarations, public transport rules etc. The ultra-orthodox politicians in the Knesset support this status and will fight tooth and nail to prevent any changes from being made to the “Status Quo” which by the way is a very lucrative business for these organizations and the politicians supporting them, with exorbitant charges being made for burials (under the table since it is supposed to be free), for marriage, for kosher certificates etc. The State, its government and its parliament (the Knesset) sees all this but nothing is done and the simple citizen pays the price, which for non-Orthodox Jews is also to suffer the violence when they want to pray at the Western Wall.
Israel is the country of the Jews. Established as the home of all Jews and a safe haven for Jews to celebrate their religion. But in Israel, the Ultra-Orthodox establishment decides who is Jewish. Who is allowed to reap the benefits of living as a Jew in the Jewish State, and who is not. (The “Who is a Jew” controversy has been lamented on for years but political Israel has not had the courage to do something). So when the Ultra-Orthodox decide that only Orthodox Jews are “real” Jews, which by the way excludes the majority of American Jews, it doesn’t matter anymore what an individual believes or feels. For the State of Israel, he is not really Jewish.
Israel is in fact, the only Western State where religious freedom does not exist. And, while each religious organization may and should decide for itself what their rules are, who heir members are and how they worship, under no circumstances can it be that such a religious organization, often violently, prevents others from worshipping in the way they see fit or making decisions regarding the legitimacy of other, rivalling religious organizations. In Israel the damage is exacerbated because the “Jewishness” of a person also buys him civil and legal rights that affect his life in most dramatic ways.
The behavior of Orthodox Jewry in Israel cannot be justified by any means and should be condemned and curtailed but the real culprit is of course the State of Israel itself. Without proper legislation regarding who is a Jew in the eyes of the State, the non-orthodox Jews are left in limbo and have no legal or other means to protect themselves from the Orthodox power.
If Israel really wants to be a Jewish State, let it already become a JEWISH State.
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