A very good piece, including some very good quotes. “Those who want makhloket [dispute], even if we gave them a new Kotel, they will find makhloket,” said Rabbi Rabinowitz. “If they don’t want it, then this will serve as a solution.” As final plans are made, the Women of the Wall continue to make a scene at the Kotel each month. Halevi [Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi] said he finds this offensive. “It is time for the Women of the Wall to suspend their monthly prayer protests and to give the government time to prove its good faith,” he said. Teacher-scholar Frank [ a doctoral student in modern Jewish history at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Jewish history teacher at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School ] said she feels similarly. She cautioned the non-Orthodox community from judging the haredim who turn out to stop the women from praying. While Frank said she does not condone violence of any kind, “I think the whole world needs to understand that these [violent protestors] are a tiny minority.” Halevi said as we come to Tisha B’Av the Jewish people should take a step back. “One of the ironies, perhaps, is that in order to restore some sense of unity to the Wall, we need to pray separately. The Jewish people can’t pray together. This is a spiritual tragedy but an accurate reflection of where we are as a people,” said Halevi. “We share more than what divides us,” said Rabbi Weinblatt in a statement. “We call upon all segments of our community to display ahavat Yisrael, love of the Jewish people in deeds and words. … We pray that the month of Av will bring the blessing of Jewish unity, harmony and peace to our people. … May the message of Tisha B’Av remind us that the antidote to the … destruction of the Temple is shalom bayit, peace in the (Jewish) home.” Said Rabbi Rabinowitz: “Jewish unity does not come from me telling you, ‘you need to love me.’ It comes from me telling myself, ‘I need to love you.’ ” washingtonjewishweek/the-kotel-no-longer-an-icon-for-unity/
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 19:05:30 +0000
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