Chief Rabbinate rejects mixed male-female prayer at Western Wall

The Western Wall is back in the headlines: Israel Hayom has obtained a copy of a cutting missive from Rabbi Rafael Frank, an assistant to Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, expressing the Chief Rabbinate's stance against the compromise agreement that would permit men and women to pray together in certain areas at the Wall.

"The stance of the Chief Rabbinate is that the government decision to divide the Western Wall [plaza] is invalid, and cannot stand," Frank's letter read.

"The Chief Rabbinate is the highest authority on Jewish law in the state, and it is absolutely forbidden for men and women to pray together at any part of the Western Wall site," the letter continued.

Frank proceeds to lay out the opinions of senior rabbis on mixed prayer at the Western Wall throughout the years, along with the Chief Rabbinate's current stance that "no change must be made to the prayer arrangements [at the Western Wall]."

"This stance has not changed. The Chief Rabbinate rejects ceremonies like these at the Western Wall plaza, which offend the vast majority of the public who prays at the Wall, cause dispute and strife, and hurt the rights of most of the public to worship at the Wall. Ceremonies at which women sing and read from the Torah at the Wall cause riots and create problems of Jewish law, and keep most of the public from worshipping at the Wall," Frank argued in the letter.

Referring to a women's group, which prays at the Wall once a month despite protests by ultra-Orthodox worshippers, the letter went on to say that "in the years that have passed since the ruling on Women of the Wall, it has become clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that prayer by Women of the Wall causes disturbances that disrupt the public order and hurt the authority of the public at large and cause the holy place to be desecrated. It's clear we must not allow ceremonies like these at the Western Wall."

The letter, addressed to Chief Rabbinate legal adviser attorney Harel Goldberg, asks that the Chief Rabbinate be allowed independent legal counsel rather than being represented by the attorney general.

"With all due respect to the attorney general, he is not authorized to 'consider' the stance of the Chief Rabbinate. The Chief Rabbinate is the entity authorized to decide on religious questions of Jewish law, and therefore the attorney general must allow the Rabbinate to retain independent legal representation so that it can appropriately express its positions," the letter read.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

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