Action: Stand Up for Religious Tolerance! Jewish Voices Together Supports Women of the Wall 1PM, Monday, August 26, 2013 outside the Israeli Consulate in NYC 800 Second Ave., between 42nd and 43rd Sts., NY NY JewishVoicesTogether@gmail Facebook: https://facebook/events/291335587662693/ Web: meetup/Jewish-Voices-Together-NYC/about/ Twitter: @JVoicesTogether Background: August 25, 2013/ 19 Elul 5773 a day that will long be remembered as a day of infamy and perfidy in Israel. Before: Sharansky Plan promised US Jewish leaders in April: 1) Level playing field: Robinson’s Arch prayer area level with existing Kotel Plaza 2) One entrance for one Jewish people: renovations to Kotel Plaza will allow single entry to existing Kotel area and new, expanded Robinson’s Arch area 3) Pluralistic control of pluralistic Robinson’s Arch prayer area: Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which represents the Haredi 8% of Israel’s population will surrender control over Robinson’s Arch prayer area to pluralistic groups representing 92% of world Jewry. Now: Scorecard at release of “new” Sharansky Plan today: 1) Zero – no plan to perform this change 2) Zero – no plan to perform this change 3) Zero – no plan to perform this change – control will not be surrendered. What will change? 24hour/7 day per week access to Robinson’s Arch area – certain lifecycle rituals banned. Minor renovation to Robinson’s Arch area – platform added – but no direct access to the Kotel. Grade? F. haaretz/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.543450 jpost/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Likelihood-growing-that-Women-of-the-Wall-demands-will-not-be-met-324201 Before: April order by the appellate court, Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Sobel haaretz/news/national/jerusalem-court-women-not-violating-law-by-wearing-prayer-shawls-at-western-wall.premium-1.517577 Judge Sobel ruled “that women praying at the Western Wall with prayer shawls and tefillin does not constitute a violation of ‘local custom’ or a provocation… The district court also ruled that contrary to police interpretations of a previous Supreme Court ruling, there is no prohibition preventing women from holding their own prayer services at the Western Wall nor any requirement that they congregate instead at the nearby Robinson’s Arch. … Sobel - an Orthodox Jew himself - wrote in his decision that, contrary to police interpretations, Women of the Wall were not in violation of the law requiring worshippers to abide by “local custom” when praying at the wall. Sobel also ruled that women praying at the wall were not a disturbance of the peace, as police maintained, and that, therefore, there was no reason to impose any limitations on their movement at the holy site.” Thus, Women of the Wall have the legal right to engage in the “4Ts”: out loud Tefila, Tallit, Tefillin and reading from a sefer Torah. Now: Today’s proposal by Israeli Cabinet Secretary Mendelblit to Israeli cabinet: Scorecard - Zero haaretz/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.543450 “The new plan, which was proposed by Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mendelblit, departs from Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky’s proposal to set up a new space for egalitarian prayer services at the Western Wall, which won broad support from Jewish communities in Israel and the United States. It also effectively snubs a ruling from Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Sobel, which permitted the Women of the Wall to pray according to their custom in the existing women’s prayer section. Mendelblit, who headed a committee tasked with ironing out the details of the plan, including setting a timetable for implementation, is expected to propose a 400-square-meter space for egalitarian worship, with no rabbinical supervision, at Robinson’s Arch. There women would be permitted to read from the Torah and wear prayer shawls. The Women of the Wall, a group that has been waging a struggle for equal prayer rights, rejected the proposal outright. ‘The plan will effectively exile women and all Jews who pray in a way that is not [in accordance with] ultra-Orthodox tradition to Robinson’s Arch and away from the area of the Western Wall where Jews have prayed for generations,’ the group said in a statement. It further attacked Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett for promoting the proposal. ‘What has been proven today is that the bullies were victorious – with their assault, spitting and cursing at women,’ the statement said. ‘Mendelblit and Bennett have given in to the threats and violence of the Haredi extremist minority in Israel and this is a dangerous precedent for our democracy.’
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 19:39:40 +0000
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