Respecting Both Tradition and Equality at the Kotel

I still remember my first visit to the Kotel, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Jewish tradition.

It was 1978. We had come as a family to celebrate the b’nai mitzvah of my older sister and brother.

Something strange and confusing happened during the ceremony. I saw my brother surrounded by the men of our family, with me, a boy of eight, among them, proudly wearing his new tallit and tefillin, chanting Torah and receiving hearty “mazel tovs” from family and strangers alike.

But my sister, the oldest, most responsible, studious and Jewishly committed of us all, stood behind the mechitza along with my mother, grandmother, aunt and the other women in our family, balancing on chairs so they could watch the men pray. No tallit or tefillin for her. No Torah scroll. No mazel tovs.

I thought we had come to Israel to celebrate her becoming bat mitzvah as well.

It didn’t feel right to me then, and it doesn’t now, almost 50 years later.

But over those decades, meaningful change did not come from resignation. It came through persistent advocacy, petitions to the government, legal challenges in Israel’s Supreme Court, and the determined voices of Jews in Israel and around the world who believed the Kotel should reflect the full diversity of the Jewish people.

Eventually, a compromise was reached. In 2016, Ezrat Yisrael was established as an area for egalitarian worship. Since then, the Kotel plaza has functioned with three sections: a men’s section, a women’s section, and an egalitarian section at Robinson’s Arch, set somewhat farther from the main plaza but still adjoining the ancient stones of the Second Temple.

It has never been a perfect solution. The physical layout makes clear that not all sections are treated equally. Even so, this framework has made it possible for diverse Jewish voices to pray at our holiest site without erasing one another’s presence.

This matters deeply to world Jewry. Recently, at the World Zionist Congress, where I had the honor of representing our movement, delegates from across the Jewish world voted overwhelmingly to strengthen the egalitarian section (Resolution #5), calling for public access, proper maintenance, visible signage, security and recognition of the right of all streams of Judaism to pray there.

And yet, right now in Israel’s Knesset, legislation has been advanced that would change that status quo.

Last week, a bill sponsored by MK Avi Maoz passed its first vote, 56–47. If it becomes law, it would grant the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate full authority over the entire Western Wall, including Ezrat Yisrael, and would define prayer that does not conform to its interpretation, including egalitarian prayer, as a “desecration,” punishable by up to seven years in prison. This bill is moving forward even as Israel’s Supreme Court has directed the state to proceed with long-delayed upgrades to the egalitarian prayer area.

This legislation would place total control of the holiest prayer site of the Jewish people in the hands of a single religious authority, excluding others under threat of law. It would criminalize the way many Jews, including us, pray.

I want to be clear. If someone prefers gender-segregated prayer, that practice should be respected. It is not how I choose to worship — I cherish sitting next to my wife and daughters and hearing the voices of women and men blend together in harmony — but I do not believe it is my place to dictate how others pray.

However, I must insist on the same respect in return. No member of the Israeli government should seek to criminalize egalitarian Jewish practice, a practice embraced by a majority of Jews worldwide.

The Kotel does not belong to one denomination or one interpretation of Judaism. It belongs to the Jewish people, in Israel, in the Diaspora, across all movements, backgrounds and traditions.

This is a matter of justice.

This is a matter of Jewish unity.

This is a matter of how we understand Jewish peoplehood in our time.

Perhaps the words of Psalm 133 can guide us:

Hineh mah tov u’mah na’im, shevet achim gam yachad.

How good and how pleasant it is

when siblings dwell together in unity.

The Hebrew word achim here does not mean only “brothers” in this context: it means siblings. It means members of one family. It means all of us.

Unity does not require uniformity. It does require a commitment to kavod, to honoring the fundamental dignity of one another. It requires a willingness to share sacred space, to make room for each other, and the humility to acknowledge that there is more than one authentic way to stand before God, more than one way to be Jewish.

May this Shabbat strengthen our resolve to protect both tradition and equality.

May we widen the circle rather than shrink it.

May this sacred place at the heart of our heritage reflect the full diversity and dignity of the Jewish people.

May we find the courage to dwell together — brothers and sisters — in peace.

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback is the Senior Rabbi of Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles, California.