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“I feel my practice of Judaism is more
welcome here in America than by the
Israeli government.” — David Kurzmann

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sions are symptom-
atic of the larger
issue of “Jewish
peoplehood versus
the individual Jew’s
special covenantal
relationship with
God” to define
Jewish identity.
Rabbi Brent
While people-
Gutmann
hood Judaism
emphasizes tradi-
tion and minimal changes to reli-
gious ritual, covenantal Judaism is
about the shared experiences of Jews
— such as the exodus from Egypt
and the revelation at Mount Sinai —
as well as ethics and values.
According to Gutmann, the rea-
son for a possible split between Jews
in Israel and Jews here is that Jews
in Israel are drifting toward people-
hood Judaism and Jews in the dias-
pora are moving toward covenantal
Judaism.
“However, Judaism is both and
not purely one or the other concept,”
Gutmann wrote. “The possibility
of schism right now may be higher
than it has ever been. The Kotel is
the tip of the iceberg. When you tell
a Jew that their form of worship is
not welcome at Israel’s holiest site,
you are basically telling them, ‘I am
drawing the bounds of peoplehood,
and I have decided that you are out.’”
Gutmann said the mood at the
conference was good but serious
with many of his colleagues, includ-
ing Orthodox rabbis, sharing his
lament of the increasing stronghold
of the ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem
and these decisions that perpetuate
ongoing intra-Jewish tensions.

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July 27 • 2017

jn

For centuries, men and women
prayed side by side at the Western
Wall. Only since Jerusalem’s reunifi-
cation in 1967 were separate areas
put in place when it was established
as an Orthodox synagogue. The
men’s section comprises two-thirds
of the space, with an additional
men’s-only interior section to the left
of the Kotel added 15 years ago.
Israel created an egalitarian
prayer space at Robinson’s Arch, a
separate and remote area from the
Kotel but still a part of the western

retaining wall of the
Temple Mount. But
rabbis here feel this
is an unacceptable
solution because it
is remote, difficult
to access and physi-
cally lower than
Rabbi Mark Miller what most think of
as the Kotel.
In Rabbi Mark
Miller’s study at Temple Beth El are
photographs from the early 20th
century of Jewish men and women
in Orthodox garb praying together.
Miller said these often surprise his
congregants, who, like most Jews,
view the Kotel as the ultimate sym-
bol of Judaism. Praying at Robinson’s
Arch is no substitute for placing
a note in or touching the Kotel’s
ancient stones, he said.
Echoing his colleague’s senti-
ments, the rabbi feels the status at
the Kotel is symptomatic of deeper
problems for the Jewish state.
“I am deeply concerned about
Israel’s future as a Jewish nation —
not simply because of these recent
decisions, but because they continue
a pattern that has been growing for
many years and that already has
done tremendous damage to Israel
and the Jewish people,” Miller said.
As the Jewish calendar approach-
es Tisha b’Av (Aug. 1), the most
mournful holiday that commemo-
rates the destruction of the Holy
Temples and Jewish exile from
ancient Israel, rabbis, including
Miller, hope that Jews can learn
from their past the consequences of
squabbling with one another.
“Tisha b’Av asks us to consider
the harmful effects of sinat chinam,
senseless hatred within our Jewish
community,” Miller said. “But fight-
ing for fundamental rights as Jews
in our own ancient homeland is not
hatred and it is not senseless. The
only sinat chinam is coming from
the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate. We
should be proud of our leaders who
are working hard every day to make
sure that Israel is truly a Jewish
homeland … not just an ultra-
Orthodox stronghold.” •

For more local opinion, read Views on
pages 6 and 8.