Rabbi Howard Morrison

By now, almost everyone knows what took place in the old city of Jerusalem on Thursday, June 30, Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. At Robinsons' Arch, the Southern part of the Kotel is a section established by the Israeli government for all forms of Jewish denominational prayer. Some call that section the egalitarian Kotel. Others call it an area for all forms of mix gendered non-Orthodox services. Sifrei Torah and Siddurim of the different movements are stored for groups who arrange in advance to daven there.

In August of 2008, we at Beth Emeth convened a Thursday morning Shacharit. Men and women stood together. 13 year old boys read from the Torah. A 12 year old girl read a Haftarah which was augmented into our service. Everything went well from a Beth Emeth perspective.

In recent years, I have twice been in Israel on Tisha B'Av. Once, I joined a Masorti group at the Haas Promenade overlooking the glow of the old city. Another time, I joined students from the Conservative Yeshiva who met at Robinson's Arch on Tisha B'Av eve, where men and women participated in the evening service and the reading of Lamentations. All went well.

But under a month, ago, everything went into spiritual ruins, matching the historical ruins of stone left as it was from Jerusalem's destruction almost 2000 years ago. Safely emerging from the caves of the pandemic,  families from the U.S. Conservative Movement had arranged to hold a service for Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Children, parents, grandparents, relatives and friends had traveled to

Israel, many coming to Israel for the first time since prior to the pandemic. All were anticipating a time of celebration and joy at the heart of Jewish history, the area of the Kotel. Years ago, the allowance for non-Orthodox service at Robinson's Arch also enabled the more well known area of the Kotel to be preserved with the Mechitza, the partition which separates men from women.

On Thursday, June 30, Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, young Charedi Jews mobbed the service at Robinson's Arch, screaming terrible words and ripping pages out of the siddurim. For these Charedim, they were taking action against heretics and destroying their books of heresy, even while the dedicated space of Robinson's Arch was supposed to be a protected space for the diversity of Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative practices.

What is as alarming as the event itself is the aftermath. Except for members of non-Orthodox denominations including myself, there has been no protest from anyone regarding this incident. Where is the sense of collective accountability and responsibility? The Israeli government? The Israeli police? More moderate forms of Orthodoxy which have positive relationships with their non-Orthodox brothers and sisters? 

Noone is looking for one representation of Judaism to authenticate another representation of Judaism. I myself have philosophical and halakhic issues with some of what takes places in all of the various expressions of Judaism to the right and left of where I stand. But I do not attack their designated places of prayer and practice, and I do my best to engage in positive relationship building.

One of the failures in the aftermath of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is that no-one has taken responsibility. The tragedy has been put under the rug.  It is an anomaly. It is a one off. Yet we know this is not true. In theory, fundamentalist Jews who cannot accept even the co-existence of other ideas will keep invading and attacking until others take responsibility. What is at stake is not a Rosh Chodesh service at Robinson's Arch, but rather, what kind of Judaism and what kind of Israel will we have in the 21^st century.

According to the Talmud, it was Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred among Jews, which prompted the destruction of the Second Temple. Now, in almost the same geographic location almost 2000 years later, Sinat Chinam continues to destroy our people. The lesson will only be learned when all Jews take responsibility for our people's behaviors and actions.

Rabbi Howard Morrison