Guide dogs at the Kotel: The latest battle for freedom of religion at the Western Wall

Despite the ban on guide dogs at the Western Wall, Rabbi Uri Regev's call for support and tolerance for the handicapped is joined by Knesset Member Karin Elharar and Orthodox Rabbi Benny Lau

15/09/2013 15:44

Tags: Western Wall · Guide dogs · freedom of religion · Shmuel Rabinovitch · Benny Lau · Karin Elharar

Releasing the Kotel. March and prayer against the surrender of the Kotel to the extremists. Hanukkah 5770

Women of the Wall is not the only group that has been discriminated against at the Western Wall. In recent years, blind visitors to the Western Wall have engaged in a similar battle over religious freedom regarding their guide dogs. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, has banned blind visitors, based on a strict reading of Jewish legal opinions, from bringing their guide dogs into the lower Western Wall plaza. Though Western Wall ushers are available to accompany blind visitors to the Wall itself, many believe that the ban on guide dogs prevents visually-impaired visitors from independently accessing the Western Wall for personal and communal prayer.

Rabbi Uri Regev, President of Hiddush, noted that this is "yet another instance of Rabbi Rabinovitch's extremist and exclusionary policies at the Kotel. After he excluded Women of the Wall, banned the Jewish Agency from holding ceremonies for new immigrants (because of mixed-gender participation), and prevented Reform and Conservative groups from holding prayers, the Rabbi of the Western Wall is now harassing blind worshippers."

Rabbi Regev's criticism of the current ban on guide dogs is joined by many voices calling for greater sensitivity regarding handicapped visitors to the Western Wall. Yesh Atid Knesset Member Karin Elharar (who uses a wheelchair) wrote a letter to Rabbi Rabinovitch, demanding entry for guide dogs. She emphasized that, "prayer at the Western Wall Plaza is not reserved for one specific group. You must allow every person to come as they are."

It's time to give the Western Wall back to the Jewish People and release the State of Israel from the damaging yoke of the extremist Orthodox Chief Rabbinate."

Similarly, Rabbi Benny Lau, an Israeli Orthodox rabbi, has actively engaged in the battle over religious freedom for physically disabled. Rabbi Lau also supports the right of blind worshippers to bring their guide dogs inside the plaza and suggests that the authorities at the Western Wall construct a pathway that will allow them to arrive directly at the Wall.

Rabbi Regev concluded, saying: "Rabbi Rabinowitch unsurprisingly chose to depend on the strictest legal ruling instead of using a more lenient and legitimate opinion that would allow handicapped worshippers greater independence when praying at the Western Wall. This completely contradicts the spirit of the State of Israel's laws and the tolerance that a majority of the Jewish people embodies. It is a true shame that negative opinions about dogs and a lack of consideration for the blind community by extremist elements in the religious circles has been turned into binding government policy. It's time to give the Western Wall back to the Jewish People and release the State of Israel from the damaging yoke of the extremist Orthodox Chief Rabbinate."