Israel’s government approves mixed-sex prayer space at Western Wall in Jerusalem

Israel’s Cabinet cast a vote which allows non-Orthodox Jewish prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The prime minister also hails the “historic” new mixed-gender section at the Western Wall, approved by the cabinet earlier this week.

He added that pressure from the Diaspora was critical in bringing the issue to front and center of the agenda for Israel-Diaspora relations, in particular from the Reform and Conservative movements in North America. The United States had been Israel’s primary source of support.

Liberal Jews, whose prayer is egalitarian, also find the religious atmosphere, as well as gender-segregated prayer sections, at the wall inhospitable. They resist any inroads from liberals often considered to be second-class Jews who ordain women and gays and are overly inclusive toward converts and interfaith marriages.

A remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple complex, the Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews may pray.

For centuries, the iconic wall in Jerusalem’s Old City has been a symbol of Jewish unity, a place of reflection and prayer.

The wall has been primarily the site for strict Orthodox Jews, as well as a holy site for Muslims who gather at the al-Aqsa Mosque. This has included separate prayer areas for men and women.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky told JTA the compromise ensured that “everybody wins in the end”, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “a fair and creative solution”.

French news agency Agence France-Presse reported Sunday that Israeli prosecutors had pressed charges against three Jewish teenagers for allegedly scrawling graffiti on some of Christianity’s holiest sites in Jerusalem.

The area will be located at the south of the Western Wall Plaza, near Robinson’s Arch, the area of the Kotel where, in 2013, women were first allowed to wear prayer shawls while praying at the Wall.

Irina Nevzlin, chair of the board of directors of The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, said in a statement: “To see such a thorny issue resolved, through discussion and compromise, underlines the huge importance of building bridges and connections across the Jewish world”.

The $9 million initiative will build a permanent mixed-gender prayer area where a temporary platform is today. The new prayer area will allow Women of the Wall to hold women’s prayers.

More liberal streams of Judaism, which have larger followings outside of the country, object at the restriction.

“In approving this plan, the state acknowledges women’s full equality and autonomy at the Kotel and the imperative of freedom of choice in Judaism in Israel”, said a spokeswoman from Women on the Wall, which endorsed the plan.

“It stands to open the floodgates of women’s rights in the public sphere in Israel… and opens the floodgates for Jewish pluralism in Israel”, said Shira Pruce of Women of the Wall. “That is about to change”, said Rabbis Noa Sattah and Gilad Kariv, of the Israel Religious Action Centre and the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, in a statement.