What a difference three years makes – or not

JUNE 22, 2020 22:18

MEMBERS OF the Women of the Wall movement hold Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall last year. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90) — MEMBERS OF the Women of the Wall movement hold Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall last year.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

I wish I could have watched this sacred place flourish and grow in parallel with my daughter. Her development is on target; the Kotel’s has fallen far behind.

Our sweet daughter, Golan, just turned three. Golan, very symbolically, was born on Rosh Hodesh Tammuz. The day after, while I was struggling to nurse my new daughter, I was watching a different conflict: Women of the Wall’s Rosh Hodesh prayers. It was a particularly challenging prayer gathering, accompanied by extreme violence – extreme even in terms of our opponents. I remember looking at my two-day-old child and promising her that I would do anything for her not to face these same battles.

Unbeknownst to us when we were at the Kotel, within hours Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would announce that he was calling off the Kotel Agreement, which we had negotiated for more than three years and was voted in by the Knesset on January 31, 2016.

Three years have passed since the cancellation. During this same amount of time, I have savored the joy of watching Golan grow. How she went from rolling from place to place, to crawling, to standing for the first time, and on to walking and running. How she learned to smile, graduated to eating solid foods and began to speak. She already has developed quite a personality. She insists on wearing dresses she can twirl in and loves to hear stories. For three years now, I’ve woken up every morning and have rejoiced in the joy that is her, Golan.

Golan’s birthday reminds me of how much she has grown and changed, but it also reminds me of something else that has not developed or flourished.

Since the Kotel Agreement was canceled, ultra-Orthodox extremists have been scheming to monopolize the holiest site in Judaism, which is supposed to be a place for all Jews. Yeshiva students swarm Robinson’s Arch, the area designated in the agreement for liberal prayer, erecting mechitzas (partitions) so that they can have an acceptable prayer atmosphere for their prayer style. And in July 2018, an ancient stone fell from the wall in the liberal section and there has been no attempt at repair. The area remains undignified, with no suitable improvements having been made.

Women of the Wall, along with Diaspora Jews, have become increasingly disappointed in the Israeli government’s lack of action. If only the ultra-Orthodox extremists understood that improving the Kotel site would benefit all Jews, including them. More visitors would come to the Kotel, knowing that there was a site at which they could pray according to their personal expression and feel more deeply connected to our tradition and our homeland.

I wish I could have watched this sacred place flourish and grow in parallel with my daughter. Her development is on target; the Kotel’s has fallen far behind.

Women of the Wall stands resolute that all Jewish people in Israel and worldwide have a place here in the Jewish state. That is why we continue this battle after more than three decades. We direct our energy toward a time when the Kotel offers a comfortable space and respect of individual worship and reflects the acceptance of all Jewish streams.

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We joyously celebrated Golan’s big day. She blew out her candles, and I, too, made a wish. I wished to be a free Jew in our homeland.

The writer is the CEO of the Women of the Wall.