Tel-Chai Nation

The Western Wall's Haredi manager has decided to draw unneeded attention for Women of the Wall - and people like himself - all because of a Torah scroll:

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, who runs Judaism’s most sacred holy site, the Kotel or Western Wall, slammed a women’s prayer group Friday for sneaking a miniature Torah scroll into the women’s section of the site earlier in the day.

“A small group of ‘Women of the Wall’ acted deceptively this morning,” the rabbi charged, according to the Ynet news site, “and after they were prevented from bringing in [to the Kotel plaza] a large Torah scroll, they deviously snuck in a small one to the women’s section.”

Women of the Wall, a feminist prayer group that gathers at the Western Wall at the start of each Jewish month, has battled with authorities for years for the right to hold prayer services in which women take a larger ritual role than that allowed by Israel’s Orthodox rabbinic establishment.

The group gathered at the Kotel plaza on Friday morning for prayers. In keeping with the site’s rules, police prevented them from bringing in the Torah scroll they carried with them. But during the prayer service, a member of the group produced a miniature scroll, which the group read from and danced with.

According to Women of the Wall, the Friday morning gathering also saw the first-ever bat mitzvah at the Kotel’s women’s section.

And I guess Rabinovitch didn't wish the bat mitzvah girl good luck. All he's interested in is running a public site solely according to Haredi customs and their idea of what Judaism should be run like. And it only gives Women of the Wall all the attention they seek, while at the same time making Orthodox Judaism look selfish and domineering. Sure, they may have been deceptive, but that still doesn't excuse the incredibly time-wasting rules he's running there. A commentor said:

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, you are an insult to all Jewish people by your stupid and wrongful conduct. I can't wait until you are investigated and terminated from your job. Just think what you are doing, you are preventing Jewish people from bringing a Torah to the wall for prayer. Your conduct is wrong and you should not be allowed to pray at the wall until you change your ways.

Well he was the same man who took tours of the city zoo on Holocaust Memorial Day, gave strong hints of being a dhimmi to Islam, and has been potentially inciting other Haredis to commit vandalism. The Jerusalem Post should stop publishing columns by Rabinovitch and he should be shunned by more sensible people. He may not think so, but he's been helping to boost a leftist group, and the worst part is, he probably knows it. IMO, if the WotW want to bring their own Torah scroll to the Wall, fine, it's not like they'll be using anybody else's.

And I should hope nobody - Haredi or otherwise - visiting the Wall that day antagonized or insulted the bat mitzvah girl. It's something to celebrate and be happy/proud about, not be hostile over.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, misogyny, Moonbattery