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A Plaza For All

Mr hose plaza is it anyway?
The simmering dispute over who can pray on the Western Wall
the ultra Orthodox
Plaza bothers me because one group
wants to control prayer there.
Leaders of Masorti, Israel's Conservative movement, told the Forward, a New
York City-based Jewish newspaper, "a divider separating men and women wor-
shippers near the Wall itself has, on several recent occasions, been extended
almost to the back of the plaza." Signs now declare that men and women must
be separated throughout the plaza, although few seem to be following the new
rule, according to the Forward.
What's up with that?
The stone plaza is a vast public space, extraordinary for its _
multicultural allure, fronting the Western Wall in the
Jerusalem's Old City. Israel built it after taking control of the
Wall in 1967.
All Jews who want to mingle or pray there, whatever their
level of observance, should be able to do so, without fear of
summary decree. I pray that blessings replace brickbats on the
plaza of the only remaining wall of the mount of the Second
Temple, which the Romans destroyed in 70 AD.
ROBERT A.
The plaza is not subject to the tenets of Israel's Orthodox-con-
SKLAR
trolled religious community or the Orthodox prohibition against
Editor
men and women praying together. The Orthodox political par-
ties have tried to seize control legislatively, but have failed.
Don't get me wrong. I don't advocate opening the area closest to the Wall to
mixed prayer. The centuries-old tradition of separating men and women in
prayer at the Wall, Judaism's holiest site, is not something to tinker with.
Besides, by law, the Wall falls within Orthodox control. It's no different than
walking into an Orthodox shul, where seating for prayer is separate; you don't
impose your values in another's sphere of worship.
In many ways, the Orthodox establishment has richly sustained our history
and heritage in Israel, which is the Jewish homeland but largely secular. It has
stumbled badly, however, when it comes to working with the more liberal
streams of Judaism.
To disrupt less-observant Jews on the Western Wall Plaza
because they want to pray in an egalitarian setting, and in
the spirit of their beliefs, shows no appreciation for Judaism's
remarkable diversity.
Sacred as it is, the Western Wall Plaza has become a
volatile battleground for prayer rights. But as Rabbi Daniel
Nevins of Adat Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in
Farmington Hills, boldly puts it, "The current attempt to
curtain off the whole plaza only serves to further fan the
Rabbi Nevins
flames of religious triumphalism in a city that already teeters
from conflict to conflict."

Upholding Tradition

The traditions of non-Orthodox Jews are not as old, but they are just as strong
as those of the ultra-Orthodox. I second the Masorti leaders who wrote to Asher
Ohana, Israeli minister of religious affairs and active in the ultra-Orthodox Shas
party: "In no way may any one group force its rules on the entire Israeli public
and beyond."
Without Knesset approval, the ministry does not have authority over a public
place that is the province of Jews everywhere.
Shas would be wiser to focus more on suicide bombers, a far greater threat to
Israel's future than discreet egalitarian prayer near, but not beside, the Western
Wall.
Incidentally, the blatant attempt to illegally limit prayer on the plaza is worlds
away from the attitude of Detroit's Orthodox Jews. Most don't proselytize or
provoke; rather, they strive to teach Torah to those of us eager to learn.
The Western Wall Plaza, Rabbi Nevins says, "has long been available to any-
one to experience on his or her own terms." Let's keep it that way.
I want my Judaism, the kind I can be proud of, to ripple forth with respect,
not contempt.

❑

Palestinians Need
Real Leadership

Your editorial on Yasser Arafat was
certainly right on ("Legacy of
Hate," Aug. 17, page 27).
The world does not seem to real-
ize the crime against humanity that
the Palestinian Authority leader has
committed: Spending seven years of
the Oslo process inciting his people
with hatred toward Israel instead of
conditioning them for peaceful
coexistence.
Sometimes, I think that the
Israelis should publish a large
"Wanted" poster in Arabic and drop
a million copies over Gaza and the
West Bank ...
"Wanted Alive — A Palestinian
leader who will tell his people:
"Our Nakba [catastrophe] was our
rejection of a state in 1948. We
were handed our state on a silver
platter and we rejected it.
"We are in the type of noose
where the harder you pull it, the
tighter the knot becomes. In other
words, the more extreme our verbal
attack on Israel is, the more violent
our terror attacks are and the more
difficult it becomes to achieve our
independence.
"Let us talk the truth. Those who
left what is now Israel in 1948 are
not going back. I think we can
achieve independence, a spiritual
capital on the Haran al-Sharif [in
Jerusalem] with an administrative
capitol in Ramallah, and some
financial compensation to those
who fled in 1948.
"By sacrificing our fantasies, we
will achieve a state and then we can
compete with Israel on a healthy
basis. Using our energies to create
rather than destroy, perhaps we can
achieve a state with an abundant
economy, an advanced technology
and high human values and thus
take an honored place in the family
of nations."

Harold Berry
Southfield

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