MK Kariv takes Torah scroll into Western Wall plaza causing stir

Labor MK and Reform leader Rabbi Gilad Kariv took a small Torah scroll into the Western Wall plaza on Tuesday morning, in defiance of the site’s regulations, and it was used in a prayer service for the New Month by the Women of the Wall prayer rights group. Regulations at the Western Wall prohibit bringing in Torah scrolls to the site, but administrator of the holy site Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch as routinely banned Women of the Wall from using Torah scrolls available for male prayer groups. As an MK, Kariv was however able to bring in a small Torah scroll for the New Moon services into the site without Western Wall Heritage Foundation security personnel being able to prevent his entry or confiscate the scroll due to his parliamentary immunity. MK Kariv takes Torah scroll into Western Wall plaza (Women of the Wall)The group prayed in the upper plaza of the central Western Wall site and used the Torah scroll to read the Torah portion for the New Month. According to Women of the Wall, their prayer service and Kariv’s presence with a Torah scroll was met with violence and harassment by ultra-Orthodox and hardline religious-Zionist protestors.“Together with Women of the Wall, and with the support of the majority of Israeli society and millions of Jews around the world, we will continue to fight fo the right of all denominations and congregations within the Jewish people to pray in accordance with their custom at the Western Wall,” said Kariv.

The MK said he was proud to use his parliamentary immunity in order to take a Torah scroll into the site and said he was “embarrassed that government authorities in Israel try to confiscate Torah scrolls and prevent women from praying and read Torah in accordance with their custom.”The Western Wall Heritage Foundation which manages the site said it was “saddened by Member of Knesset Gilad Kariv cynically taking advantage of his immunity by coming to the Western Wall holding a Torah scroll which he tried to bring in to the complex, contrary to the directions of the legal advisor to the government and the site’s regulations.”Said the organization “Despite knowing that such an event will disrupt public order at this very sensitive place, and despite knowing this action is in contrast with Western Wall regulations – including a letter he was given in the name of the Ministry of Justice regarding his prohibited behavior, he ignored it and unfortunately proceeded with his provocative actions.“By doing so, the MK reverted to the disruptions at the Western Wall that had quieted over this past year due to attempts by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation to foster unity at the Western Wall in general, and during Rosh Chodesh prayers in particular.”The Women of the Wall and the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) Movements in Israel have fought a decades long battle for prayer rights and access for their prayer services at the site. These organizations agreed to a compromise with the ultra-Orthodox parties in 2016 whereby the southern section of the Western Wall would be dramatically upgraded and recognized as an official holy site for progressive Jewish prayer by the government, in return for which they would waive their prayer rights at the central Western Wall plaza. The ultra-Orthodox parties backtracked however and forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to indefinitely suspend the agreement in 2017. A petition to the High Court of Justice demanding that the government implement the 2016 agreement, as well as a petition demanding that the regulations banning the use of external Torah scrolls at the site be annulled, are pending before the court.
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