Authorities in Jerusalem are worried that the Tisha B'Av fast, postponed this year to begin on Saturday evening, will see violent clashes between national-Haredi worshippers and Reform and Conservative Jews at the southern part of the Western Wall designated for mixed-gender prayer.
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In 2021, a group of religious activists showed up at the shared prayer space, established to allow members of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism to pray at the wall in their own manner, and began holding their own prayers and Torah lessons. The Conservative and Reform worshippers were angry to see their space usurped, and clashes erupted that were broadly condemned. The brunt of the criticism was against the national-Haredi worshippers and accused them of spreading baseless hatred on the very day devoted to commemorating the destruction of the Second Temple – traditionally ascribed to baseless hatred among Jews.
A few weeks ago, head of the Conservative movement in the US Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal and director-general of the Masorti movement in Israel Rakefet Ginsberg met with Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, one of the most prominent rabbis from the religious Zionist camp in Israel, to find a solution to the issue.
Blumenthal and Ginsberg also notified the Prime Minister's office that no one must be allowed to bring gender dividers into the egalitarian prayer area so that the national-Haredi activists will not be able to take control of the space. A decision has also been made to have ushers from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation stationed at the entrance to the southern prayer area who will alert the police if anyone tries to bring dividers in.
Ahead of Tisha B'Av, Conservative Rabbi Yoav Ende who serves as head of the Hannaton Educational Center, reached out to religious Zionist officials and asked them to help prevent violence.
"Sights of spitting, prayer books being torn up, prayers being disrupted, insults, and more have become standard. In effect, other than murder, we've experienced everything," he wrote.
"You and your students [should] come to Western Wall, stand there with us on the eve of Tisha B'Av and serve as a barrier between extremists and the sane. If you aren't there, the baseless hatred will only group. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg of the hatred that burns here and is fanned every day," Ende wrote.
It is not certain that there will be a repeat of the violent events of 2021 on the fast day itself Israel Hayom has learned that the Liba organization, which is leading the fight to instate Orthodox prayer at the southern plaza, has decided to steer clear of the site on Tisha B'Av. Director-general of the radical Orthodox Liba Center, Oren Henig, said the group intends to renew their protests after the fast.
"Reform Jews want to wage a campaign and use Tisha B'Av to encourage baseless hatred. This is a campaign designed to create division and fights, and we don't intend to cooperate. Last year, we stood there and prayed and we weren't part of the riots, but we won't show up this year so there won't be a false picture of us supposedly fanning the flames. We intend to return to our fight after Tisha B'Av," Henig said.
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