Guest Post: 'The Bitter Taste of Victory' by Rabbi Pam Frydman

On August 31st, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on a matter brought by the Reform and Conservative Movements, Women of the Wall, Hiddush and Yisrael Hofshit regarding whether to require the government to adhere to the Kotel agreement.

07/09/2017 16:19

Tags: Western Wall · Supreme Court

A woman reading Torah, source: Wikipedia

This guest post was written by Rabbi Pam Frydman, Coordinator of the Beyond Genocide Campaign of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California and Chair of Rabbis for Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel. The views expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily represent the view of Hiddush.

When we let ourselves experience the hatred between Ultra-Orthodox and non-Orthodox, it is clear that Israel and our Jewish future are at risk. Anyone who thinks otherwise what would do well to think again. Without the Jewish lobby in North America, I shudder to think of Israel’s future in a few hundred years.

Some refer to the hatred between us as sinat hinam, but the price is actually quite high. To improve our future, we need a different narrative that teaches our children that there are lots of ways to be Jewish and those who observe differently are also Jews. If we teach our children to love the stranger, we can also teach them to love fellow Jews.

On August 31st, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on a matter brought by the Reform and Conservative Movements, Women of the Wall, Hiddush and Yisrael Hofshit regarding whether to require the government to adhere to the Kotel agreement that provides for a dignified egalitarian prayer space and a second space for women who wish to pray separately with tallit, tefillin and reading from a sefer Torah. The government negotiated the agreement, signed it and then rescinded and froze it, because Ultra-Orthodox members of Knesset threatened to leave the government if the agreement is implemented.

During the August 31 hearing, the Supreme Court asked the State to inform it within 14 days whether the government is willing to reconsider the "freezing" of the agreement, and if not, to address the question of whether there is a basis in the law to force the government to implement the agreement.

Why are the Ultra-Orthodox frightened by a few Conservative and Reform leaders and Women of the Wall?

Why are the Ultra-Orthodox frightened by a few Conservative and Reform leaders and Women of the Wall? Because their role at the Kotel would spell the end of the Ultra-Orthodox monopoly over publicly decided religious matters. The Ultra-Orthodox force the government to pay salaries to non-Orthodox rabbis through the Department of Sports and Culture rather than through the Rabbinate. They avoid convening Religious Councils to which non-Orthodox and women have been elected or appointed. But they cannot avoid jointly administering the Kotel without risking that the Kotel will be administered without them. That is why the August 31 Supreme Court decision represents such a threat for them and a victory for pluralism.

Regardless of what the government does next, victory is clear: Separation between religion and state is just around the corner. Turning this corner requires a leap of faith. We who believe in the right to marry without destination weddings in Cyprus or elsewhere, we who believe that our form of Judaism is valid and valuable even though we are not Ultra-Orthodox, we need to believe enough in ourselves, our fellow Jews and our collective future to swallow our pride, love our neighbor and teach our children to love their neighbor including Jews who believe and observe differently than we do.

Anat Hoffman is fond of saying, “As goes the Kotel, so goes Israel.” I think Anat is right, but being right doesn’t matter unless we are also victorious, and that means becoming an example of our Jewish values rather than holding our ground and demanding that our enemies become the example first. Rather than bashing, berating and belittling Jews who observe differently than we do, let us become followers of the Talmudic teaching, “Better to throw oneself into a fiery furnace than to shame a fellow human in public.” (Sotah 10b) Then and only then can we become true pluralists loving our neighbor as ourselves. (Leviticus 19:18) Keyn yehi ratzon.