Women of the Wall: In the Interim

Yesterday I listened to a conference call hosted by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) about access to the Kotel (Western Wall in Jerusalem). Or, more accurately, I listened to the first half of the call, since a meeting at work conflicted with the second half of it.

During the call, Anat Hoffman of the Israel Religious Action Center and leader of the ” target=”_blank”>Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, said it’s too soon to know the intentions of the new government, and what will happen as the Ultra-Orthodox and other groups try to remove parts of Sharansky’s proposal. Even if the plan is changed, he said, it has achieved the understanding that the status quo has to change.

He said the proposal included the following five conditions:

1. If there will be an egalitarian section to the Kotel, it must be geographically equal to the current Kotel.
2. It must be an open public site, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at no charge, just like the current Kotel.
3. There must be joint access to the new and the current site, so it is clear that it is all one Wall.
4. There must be a change in the governing structure so other streams of Judaism are represented.
5. All national ceremonies, such as IDF ceremonies, must return to the Kotel.

He stressed that the interim solution can’t be separated from the long-term solution, and that they must include the same values. Therefore, the police must not be allowed to continue to detain women during their monthly Rosh Chodesh services.

If you want to know how you can help support the Women of the Wall during this interim period, look for action updates on the “>Religious and Reform Facebook page to see additional photos and behind-the-scenes comments, and