Jerusalem – Ultra-Ortodox rabbis have called on their followers to visit the Western Wall early in the morning or late at night, because “it is almost impossible to pass through the place without running into a prohibition”.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The ad was published in Yated Neeman newspaper by the Rabbinical Transportation Committee, which supports kosher bus lines – seating women and men separately – in Jerusalem.
The ad says, “Throughout the year the Western Wall is visited by a large crowd of visitors from every public sector in Israel, and it is difficult to police the level of modesty in the area.” This is a problem, the rabbis say, as it constitutes religious transgression.
In recent months a special “men only” path has been allotted to the haredim, allowing them to walk separately from the gate to the wall, but organizations fighting the “haredi-izing of the Kotel” have protested this move.
The rabbis also call on those traveling to the holy site by bus to maintain a separation between men and women, though Israel’s major bus company Egged has rejected this move.
They say the separation is only maintained properly on line 3, which travels from the northern ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods directly to the wall. The rabbis hope that if more people begin to use this line, Egged will increase the number of buses traveling this route.
The rabbi of the Western Wall and the holy sites of Israel, Shmuel Rabinovitch, said in response to the ad, “I respect the Jews who wish to visit the Western Wall in their own way and according to their views, with respect for other views and without offending the worshippers at the site.”
“We must look for a way to allow them to visit the praying area at all hours, through understanding of the complicated essence of the holy site,” he added.
“We are making an effort to preserve the precarious status-quo that exists at the Western Wall,” the rabbi said, adding that all worshippers who desired to visit the site should be allowed to do so at all hours.
“We will not achieve this with loud headlines. Only through a profound understanding of the needs of all involved, compromise, and humility will we find a way to accept all who wish to stand before the holy stones that belong to everyone,” he said.
very good idea. maybe altogether they should only go out at night
instead of calling it “haredi-izing of the Kotel,” they should call it “removing G-d & Halocha from the kosel” because that’s what these oysvorf anti-frum yidin want to accomplish.
All this in the so called jewish medina, we can’t go to our holiest shrine because our bothers and sisters are behaving like pigs !!
It just seems to be that this group of people do not trust their instincts and have an uncontrollable taiiveh
This is a good start. First they will only come out of their caves at night. Eventually, those who seek to distort daas torah and impose a talbinization of yiddeshkeit will be excluded entirely from coming to the kotel and leaving thier self-imposed ghetto until they can learn to live within the norms of modern day orthodoxy and the realities of a pluralistic society in eretz yiroel. I admire rabinovitch’s efforts to accomodate all these different needs, but even he seems to have realized that somewhere he must draw a line and say NO to these yidden who want to go back in time.
Ironic, earlier we couldn’t go to the Kosel because our enemies prevented it. Now we can’t go because of the immodesty of our own.
#2 - everyone who has a Jewish mother is Jewish. If someone who is far from Hashem wants to come to the Kosel, should we push them away because they are dressed inappropriately? We need to bring them closer, not repel them.
Every person has a RIGHT to go. If the charedim don’t like it, they need to change, not try to change others. I’m chareidi myself but choose to practice Ahavas Chinom and not Sinas Chinom.
how many of these “yeshivish” or “charedi” Rabbi’s fought for the state and the Kotel in 1948 and 1967??? That’s what I thought….. These people are a bunch of ingrates. I’d prefer they only come late at night so I don’t have to see them.
how come it was ok to go to the kosel all these years till now?
Does this mean that the shnorrers will also go away from the Kotel, and stop bothering everyone who tries to concentrate on davening?
The whole reason that Hashem gave us back the Kotel is so that we could adhere to his precious Torah in Kedusha and Tahara..
I’ve been there plenty and these rabbis are rigjht its turned into a hangout and boys and girls mingle in the plaza there and people don’t tespect the holiness of the site and they drss inappropiately so there is nothing wrong with what these rabbis say to try to aboid it during the dauly ss the secular people who go there dress inappropuately
If LeHavdil the pope would request that all visitors must dress in a moral decent fashion when coming to the Vatican, every one will understand that coming to a holy place you have to dress accordingly and act respectfuly, but when the Chareidim Rabbi requests that, oh, that is a different story, they are old fashion, they want to force chimras on everyone,!!
I just happened to be called for Jury duty a few weeks ago, I was astonished when I the entire audience was told that you must come dressed in a respectful manner, when coming to the Court ! Imagine that, in a Court you must appear in decent clothing, now how much more is it required of us to when we visit our most Holiest Place???
you are correct that in court and even more so at the kotel that people need to dress, speak and act respectfully. on that point i suspect you and i agree.
some of the problem is defining respectful dress for example…
at the secular court that you mention, for example, many women might be dressed respectfully for the court room but not modestly enough for the western wall…
so we get down to various definitions of respect and kovod..
you find this next point of mine incomprehensible, however there are some people who intentionally dress extremely modest and respectful from their perspective, and find conflicting values/definitions from the “religious element” ..
this adds to their confusion and sometimes resentment..
B”H
My father, zichrono lebracha, served in His Brittanic Majesty’s forces in EY between 1945 to 1948. I had the kavod and the zechut to have served in Zahal between 1966 to 1989. In 1967 I served in the parachute brigade that captured the Kotel, where all Yiddn can now daven without fear.
As such, Robert’s stupid naarishkeit (“how about before 1948 when palestine was a british (
%$
antisemites they are) mandate.. could you visit your holy shrine because of pigs?”) is doubly insulting.
A good example of sinat chinam!
BS”D The Kossel is a holy site. It is a Jewish holy site. It is not a secular party spot. We should go at night and in the morning and every time of day. It is only respectful to Hashem and to Jews that modesty and gender separation be respected. I would bet that those that wrote the idiot comments I have read above (not all, only the idiots) would never think to disrespect during a visit to an Amish village, or whatever. Only the self-haters.
I have been publicly embarrassed at the Kotel for the most minor of indiscretions, and not by charedim. (Sephardim object when you cross your legs, an insult in Arab countries). In my view, this kind of behavior is less about standards than it is about control–things need to be our way, not yours. This form of control exercised by self-appointed individuals cannot be healthy for the development of Torah middot.
the kosel is a very holy place and should be respected by all when you go please dress as conservative as possible whether you agree or not you bother hashem and other worshipers by going in a immodest way
these rabbis are right , as a modern orthodox jew i only visit the kosel at night because im not interested in seeing other peoples bodies no matter how flattering they think there body looks im not comfortable seeing it especially when im coming to pray
I don’t understand all this. I am, I mean I look as if I am!, chareidi and dress chasidish. I have been to the Kossel literally hundreds of time at all times of the day and night. I have NEVER seen any problems between the chareidi and other sects. There are a few people who are not dressed appropriately for the holiness of this place (that certain dress is inappropriate is not disputed) but in general they are tinokos shenishbu or not jewish. I think it is fair to say Yisroel am kedoisho and all this publicity is just media hype covering a tiny minority of weirdos who survive SOLELY on the oxygen of publicity.