The Kotel

Since I haven't really written this week, there are a few topics I've been interested in addressing, but haven't gotten a chance to yet. One was in reference to something interesting that I heard this week about Jerusalem, which is that, in Israel, Jeruslaem is a religious bubble and an Anglo bubble. That's something I've been thinking about a lot since I heard it, but I think I'll wait a couple weeks until after I've traveled around the country a bit to really discuss it.

In the meantime, I mentioned last week that I went to the Kotel, but I never got into that. What I actually went to was a place called the Kotel HaMasorti--The Masorti Kotel. Masorti is the Conservative movement in Israel and the Kotel HaMasorti is this part of the wall that is owned by the Israeli Archeological Park where men and women can pray together. I don't want to belittle this place for those who find it meaningful, but for me, it was nothing better than a consolation. The claim is that it is as holy as any other part of the Western Wall, which is not inaccurate, but it is not enough. First of all, because it is on private grounds, access is limited. You can get in free in the morning, I think before 9 or 10, but a lot of people I've talked to about don't even realized that. And if you want to go with a group during that time you have to call ahead. Second of all, it's very isolated (and isolating), since you can't see the rest of the wall--the image people think of as the Kotel. When I went with the Yeshiva group, we were the only ones there.

The reality is that both of these points are important deterrents to the very real threat of attacks on men and women praying together at the Kotel. On the other hand, because of the situation, I felt like I lacked that feeling, that closeness to Judaism and to Hashem that I hoped to experience when going to this particularly holy place. That is unfortunate. This weekend is Tisha B'Av, the holiday when we commemorate the destruction of both the first and second temples, and that will likely mark my first trip to the part of the Wall that most of us think of as the Kotel since my arrival three weeks ago.

I don't really have the ability to get into too much more about this issue right now, but it's definitely a loaded one. The Masorti movement has accepted what I've referred as a "consolation," while other groups, like the Reform movement and the Women of the Wall, have chosen not to and continue fighting for their right to pray as they choose with everyone else. As I understand it, they fight this particular fight at their own risk. I don't want to simply say that one group is right or wrong--some people seemed extremely moved by the Kotel HaMasorti--but it's not an option that works for me.