Israeli Historical Cabinet pushes for transgender praying space at Western Wall

Shira Pruce, spokeswoman for the Women of the Wall, said the historic decision was “groundbreaking for both women’s rights and Jewish pluralism in Israel” after three decades of campaigning.

The Israeli government agrees to create separate expansion of a mixed-gender, non-orthodox prayer space at Western Wall in compromise, in a Cabinet meeting Sunday.

JERUSALEM-In a rare instance of a Middle East dispute being resolved by compromise, the Israeli cabinet on Sunday allocated a stretch of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, hitherto reserved exclusively for Orthodox religious practices, to non-Orthodox Jewish denominations to follow their own prayer services as they wish. The ultra-Orthodox minister of religious services, David Azoulay, has to sign off on the decision, which he opposes. 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. The Western Wall, known in Hebrew as the Kotel and widely regarded as Judaism’s most holy site, has until now been strictly segregated with just a small space set aside for women. Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said he received the government decision with a “heavy heart and a sigh of relief”, adding that the Women of the Wall had turned the site into one of “incessant quarrels”.

Major changes are happening at one of the holiest and most sacred sites of Judaism-Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

Administration of the Wall, long in the hands of ultra-Orthodox rabbinic authorities, will pass to a committee that will also comprise liberal rabbis and representatives of the government and the women’s reform group. While in our poll, Israeli respondents see affiliated American Jews as 32 percent Reform, 12 percent Conservative and 17 percent Orthodox, the 2013 Pew study found 40 percent Reform, 22 percent Conservative and only 12 percent Orthodox. Shortly after, a temporary prayer platform was erected for mixed-gender prayer, but advocates say it was not an official site and was not always open.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, were at the forefront of talks when it came to negotiating the officially recognized mixed gender space.

The Western Wall forms part of a huge compound in the Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram ash-Sharif.

“It is sad that instead of bringing unity, Levin divides and incites against one of the most important streams in Judaism”.

The new rules will put the egalitarian area under control of a new group. It said that through this action, the state has acknowledged autonomy and full equality at the Wall. “I’m proud to be an Orthodox Jew, but I’m minister of the entire Jewish Diaspora and I won’t accept attempts to taint the Jewish people”.

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