A Pile of Herodian Stones vs. Ahavat Yisrael
Another Tisha B'Av is here, and we're still fasting. That means we're still doing the same sins. And the big 'same sin' is Sinat Chinam.
The solution of Sinat Chinam is Ahavat Chinam, which is another way to say Ahavat Yisrael. One of Rav Dovid Gottlieb's comments during this year's Kinot at YU Israel was on the subject of Ahavat Yisrael. He spoke about the fact that some people just aren't likable, and you don't have to like them...but you still have to love them. V'Ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha.
Even if they don't keep Torah the same way you do; even if they don't, in your view, keep Torah at all. "Af al pi she'chata, Yisrael hu." And especially because almost all non-frum or anti-frum Jews today fall under the din of tinok she'nishba as defined by the Rambam.
(The same applies to those on the far right against whom I rail...if your parents and your society teach you that cell phones and the Internet are evil, dati leumi people aren't really frum, and Conservative and Reform Jews aren't Jewish at all, for example, you are a right-wing tinok she'nisba. And, as hard as it is -- and I've said often enough that I'm talking to myself here -- such people also have to be loved.)
And so we come to the soi-disant Women for the Wall. As usual, there was a confrontation this month. At least one member of the Women OF the Wall (WoW) was shoved. A relative of mine, visiting from the U.S., had coffee thrown on her.
I am thankful, at least, that the incidents are no longer of interest to the international press, but I fear each month that something could happen, like a major injury or even, chas v'shalom, death, that could change that and bring back in full force the chillul HaShem aspect. (There have been several injuries over the years that have come very close to being disabling or fatal.) The anger level of some of the women "for" the wall leads to incitement of others...even if they themselves do nothing physical, there is never a Rosh Chodesh without some physical incident.
My young relative who was splashed with coffee is Reform; I do not agree with most of her beliefs. But I love her not only because she is family but because she is a Jew; V'Ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha.
Whoever threw the coffee at her didn't seem to love her much.
Another aspect of this month's event was that someone arranged a van from our area for women to go. Apparently unintentionally, the person who made a post about it just assumed, but didn't mention, that it was to help oppose WoW...the post only said it was to daven Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel. My wife and I spoke to a couple that indeed did NOT realize the purpose of the trip, and when told, repeated back to us most of the (untrue) propaganda against WoW.
To set the record straight, these are the facts:
1) Wow has been existence for years; most of the member are sincere, frum women WITHOUT an agenda, who just want to express their devotion by davening at the Kotel once a month. They wear t'filin like Rashi's daughters did, and they read from the Torah, but they have heterim from Orthodox Rabbis for most or all of what they do. There are a few who have other political motives, but that was never the main push, and all this went on peacefully, bothering no one, for years.
2) The women "for" the wall were inspired by a man with a political agenda. I can't say his name here for both Lashon Hara and possible libel issues, but I can tell you that my wife once tried to discuss him with one of the founders of this group and was told never to mention it publicly. All of the problems, all of the chaos under the watchful eye of the Sh'china, have been initiated by this group at the behest of their male founder.
3) This is not a fact but an extremely high probability. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The women 'for' the wall broke it, and now everyone is trying to fix it. Whether or not you have a problem with an Egalitarian section at the Kotel (I don't), it is highly likely that THERE WOULD NOT BE AN EGALITARIAN SECTION TODAY WERE IT NOT FOR THE MONTHLY FRACAS CAUSED BY THE WOMEN "FOR" THE WALL. I fear it could be worse. Despite the power of the religion factions in the country, pushing too hard could cause an anti-religious backlash that could take the ENTIRE Kotel away from religious control.
4) Interesting side historical fact. During the British mandate, men and women who managed to get to the Kotel davened side-by-side without a mechitza...there are videos.
Let's step back for a moment and look at what we're fighting about. A year or two ago I went to a lecture about the Six-Day War; the speaker pointed out that because of 2,000 years of people trying to get to the Kotel, they forgot that the main kedusha is up on Har HaBayit, which is why the government was so quick to claim the Kotel but give the top to the Muslims after the war. Indeed, in an excellent piece in today's Jerusalem Post, A Nation Divided on Tisha BeAv, they quote Rabbi Aryeh Stern as saying that the Kotel is "the holiest place for the Jewish people."
But it's not. It's not even part of the Beit HaMikdash. It wasn't even there at all through most of the history of the Mikdash. King Herod, who may or may not have been a legitimate king, had a Roman-style edifice complex. He wanted big, fancy buildings. So he built a big new Beit HaMikdash (the one you see in pictures of what it looked like), but to support it he first had to build a big platform to increase the size of the mountain. The Kotel is one of the retaining walls for that big platform.
So there you have it. Herod's wall is so important to some people that they will abandon (or rationalize away) Ahavat Yisrael to defend it. We need to change that. The Kotel IS important...but our fellow Jews, ALL our fellow Jews, are so much more so. And we can't teach people we disagree with by throwing coffee (or worse) at them. If we can't relearn that lesson, we'll go ahead and keep fasting on Tisha B'Av instead of meeting on Har HaBayit for a korban BBQ.
The solution of Sinat Chinam is Ahavat Chinam, which is another way to say Ahavat Yisrael. One of Rav Dovid Gottlieb's comments during this year's Kinot at YU Israel was on the subject of Ahavat Yisrael. He spoke about the fact that some people just aren't likable, and you don't have to like them...but you still have to love them. V'Ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha.
Even if they don't keep Torah the same way you do; even if they don't, in your view, keep Torah at all. "Af al pi she'chata, Yisrael hu." And especially because almost all non-frum or anti-frum Jews today fall under the din of tinok she'nishba as defined by the Rambam.
(The same applies to those on the far right against whom I rail...if your parents and your society teach you that cell phones and the Internet are evil, dati leumi people aren't really frum, and Conservative and Reform Jews aren't Jewish at all, for example, you are a right-wing tinok she'nisba. And, as hard as it is -- and I've said often enough that I'm talking to myself here -- such people also have to be loved.)
And so we come to the soi-disant Women for the Wall. As usual, there was a confrontation this month. At least one member of the Women OF the Wall (WoW) was shoved. A relative of mine, visiting from the U.S., had coffee thrown on her.
I am thankful, at least, that the incidents are no longer of interest to the international press, but I fear each month that something could happen, like a major injury or even, chas v'shalom, death, that could change that and bring back in full force the chillul HaShem aspect. (There have been several injuries over the years that have come very close to being disabling or fatal.) The anger level of some of the women "for" the wall leads to incitement of others...even if they themselves do nothing physical, there is never a Rosh Chodesh without some physical incident.
My young relative who was splashed with coffee is Reform; I do not agree with most of her beliefs. But I love her not only because she is family but because she is a Jew; V'Ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha.
Whoever threw the coffee at her didn't seem to love her much.
Another aspect of this month's event was that someone arranged a van from our area for women to go. Apparently unintentionally, the person who made a post about it just assumed, but didn't mention, that it was to help oppose WoW...the post only said it was to daven Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel. My wife and I spoke to a couple that indeed did NOT realize the purpose of the trip, and when told, repeated back to us most of the (untrue) propaganda against WoW.
To set the record straight, these are the facts:
1) Wow has been existence for years; most of the member are sincere, frum women WITHOUT an agenda, who just want to express their devotion by davening at the Kotel once a month. They wear t'filin like Rashi's daughters did, and they read from the Torah, but they have heterim from Orthodox Rabbis for most or all of what they do. There are a few who have other political motives, but that was never the main push, and all this went on peacefully, bothering no one, for years.
2) The women "for" the wall were inspired by a man with a political agenda. I can't say his name here for both Lashon Hara and possible libel issues, but I can tell you that my wife once tried to discuss him with one of the founders of this group and was told never to mention it publicly. All of the problems, all of the chaos under the watchful eye of the Sh'china, have been initiated by this group at the behest of their male founder.
3) This is not a fact but an extremely high probability. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The women 'for' the wall broke it, and now everyone is trying to fix it. Whether or not you have a problem with an Egalitarian section at the Kotel (I don't), it is highly likely that THERE WOULD NOT BE AN EGALITARIAN SECTION TODAY WERE IT NOT FOR THE MONTHLY FRACAS CAUSED BY THE WOMEN "FOR" THE WALL. I fear it could be worse. Despite the power of the religion factions in the country, pushing too hard could cause an anti-religious backlash that could take the ENTIRE Kotel away from religious control.
4) Interesting side historical fact. During the British mandate, men and women who managed to get to the Kotel davened side-by-side without a mechitza...there are videos.
Let's step back for a moment and look at what we're fighting about. A year or two ago I went to a lecture about the Six-Day War; the speaker pointed out that because of 2,000 years of people trying to get to the Kotel, they forgot that the main kedusha is up on Har HaBayit, which is why the government was so quick to claim the Kotel but give the top to the Muslims after the war. Indeed, in an excellent piece in today's Jerusalem Post, A Nation Divided on Tisha BeAv, they quote Rabbi Aryeh Stern as saying that the Kotel is "the holiest place for the Jewish people."
But it's not. It's not even part of the Beit HaMikdash. It wasn't even there at all through most of the history of the Mikdash. King Herod, who may or may not have been a legitimate king, had a Roman-style edifice complex. He wanted big, fancy buildings. So he built a big new Beit HaMikdash (the one you see in pictures of what it looked like), but to support it he first had to build a big platform to increase the size of the mountain. The Kotel is one of the retaining walls for that big platform.
So there you have it. Herod's wall is so important to some people that they will abandon (or rationalize away) Ahavat Yisrael to defend it. We need to change that. The Kotel IS important...but our fellow Jews, ALL our fellow Jews, are so much more so. And we can't teach people we disagree with by throwing coffee (or worse) at them. If we can't relearn that lesson, we'll go ahead and keep fasting on Tisha B'Av instead of meeting on Har HaBayit for a korban BBQ.
posted by meturgeman | 6:07 PM
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