A Vision for Tomorrow:
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Due to the incredble progress being made at the Kotel in the summer of 2013, many rabbis were imagining what other great changes might happen that were beyond are furthermost dreams. So I spent some time on Yom Kippur that year dreaming.
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Yom Kippur Morning, 2013 / 5774
North Shore Synagogue, Syosset, NY
Envision, for a moment, the Kotel – perhaps one of the holiest places for Jews throughout the world. Whether you have been personally to the Kotel, seen pictures of the Kotel, or never even heard about the Kotel, I invite you to imagine a large stone wall, literally stuffed with notes of prayers, and a courtyard surrounding it, filled with Jews and other tourists from all over the world. If you tavel to Israel for four days or four weeks, the Kotel is a destination on any itinerary. Whether you come from an ultra-Orthodox background or a secular upbringing, visiting the Kotel is an awe-inspiring moment, knowing how many millions of Jews have stood where you are standing. The Kotel is a place that bridges time and space.
The Kotel is literally the western support wall of the Temple Mount Plaza, which surrounded the Temple. In the year 37 BCE, Herod was appointed king in Jerusalem and he soon initiated a huge renovation project for the then Temple. He hired many workers who toiled to make the Temple more magnificent and to widen the area of the Temple Mount by flattening the mountain peak and building four support walls around it. The Kotel is one of those walls.
The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, and despite the great destruction that took place, all four of the Temple Mount support walls remained standing. Throughout the years, the Kotel was the remnant closest to the site of the Temple’s Holiest of Holies. Therefore, it became a place of prayer and yearning for Jews from around the world.
For some, your relationship with the Kotel, your vision of it, began before Israel became a Modern State. Prior to 1948, the return of the Jewish nation to its land caused tensions around the Kotel. And so a divider was placed at the Kotel, and a rabbi was asked to oversee the happenings of the Kotel. For some of you, this was your introduction to the Kotel.
In 1948, with the War of Independence, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem fell to Jordanian hands. The Jewish homes were destroyed, and during the 19 years of Jordanian rule, Jews were not able to reach the Wall and pray in front of its ancient stones. All that was possible was to climb up to Mount Zion and glance at the Kotel from afar. Thus is the way some of you were introduced to the Kotel.
And during the 1967 Six Day War, paratroopers broke through to the Old City, and the Kotel and Temple Mount were liberated, the city of Jerusalem was reunified, and the Jewish people were once again able to come to the Kotel in prayer and in song. This is the vision of the Kotel that many of us have come to know. [1]
This is the Kotel I have always envisioned. A wall with two sections, one for men and one for women. A wall that is approximately 200 feet long in the Prayer Plaza section, though now we can see the Kotel in the Southern Excavations, and even more can be seen in the Kotel Tunnels. A wall that was always overseen by someone appointed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and in recent days, we see a growing orthodox rule at the Kotel.
As a young woman, and certainly as a Reform rabbi, I dreamed that some day, women’s voices could be heard more loudly at the Kotel, at least on the women’s side. I dreamed that the Southern section of the Kotel would be viewed by the world as holy, in equal measure to that of the Kotel in the Prayer Plaza, since this is where men and women can pray together, and often where I choose to celebrate B’nai Mitzvah and other life cycle events. I dreamed of a Kotel Plaza that could once again be filled with secular singing and dancing, and not so occupied by the ultra-Orthodox community, who don’t respect me as a Jew or a woman, let alone as a rabbi.
But I NEVER dreamed of a Kotel that would have one section for the Orthodox, to be overseen by the Chief Rabbinate’s disciple, and one section for the rest of the Jewish community, an egalitarian section, to be overseen by someone from within the secular government. I NEVER dreamed that women might be allowed to pray at more than 50% of the Kotel, for if the Kotel is divided in half, and a piece of the Orthodox section is reserved for women, even a very small section, then this will be the case. And I NEVER dreamed that a former member of the K’nesset, Natan Sharansky, the current chairman of the Jewish Agency, would be shouting from the treetops: One Western Wall for One Jewish People.
[1] This section was adapted from information found on thekotel.org.
For the rest of the this sermon, please download below.
For More Information About
Rabbi Bravo's Views of Israel:
North Shore Synagogue, Syosset, NY
Envision, for a moment, the Kotel – perhaps one of the holiest places for Jews throughout the world. Whether you have been personally to the Kotel, seen pictures of the Kotel, or never even heard about the Kotel, I invite you to imagine a large stone wall, literally stuffed with notes of prayers, and a courtyard surrounding it, filled with Jews and other tourists from all over the world. If you tavel to Israel for four days or four weeks, the Kotel is a destination on any itinerary. Whether you come from an ultra-Orthodox background or a secular upbringing, visiting the Kotel is an awe-inspiring moment, knowing how many millions of Jews have stood where you are standing. The Kotel is a place that bridges time and space.
The Kotel is literally the western support wall of the Temple Mount Plaza, which surrounded the Temple. In the year 37 BCE, Herod was appointed king in Jerusalem and he soon initiated a huge renovation project for the then Temple. He hired many workers who toiled to make the Temple more magnificent and to widen the area of the Temple Mount by flattening the mountain peak and building four support walls around it. The Kotel is one of those walls.
The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, and despite the great destruction that took place, all four of the Temple Mount support walls remained standing. Throughout the years, the Kotel was the remnant closest to the site of the Temple’s Holiest of Holies. Therefore, it became a place of prayer and yearning for Jews from around the world.
For some, your relationship with the Kotel, your vision of it, began before Israel became a Modern State. Prior to 1948, the return of the Jewish nation to its land caused tensions around the Kotel. And so a divider was placed at the Kotel, and a rabbi was asked to oversee the happenings of the Kotel. For some of you, this was your introduction to the Kotel.
In 1948, with the War of Independence, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem fell to Jordanian hands. The Jewish homes were destroyed, and during the 19 years of Jordanian rule, Jews were not able to reach the Wall and pray in front of its ancient stones. All that was possible was to climb up to Mount Zion and glance at the Kotel from afar. Thus is the way some of you were introduced to the Kotel.
And during the 1967 Six Day War, paratroopers broke through to the Old City, and the Kotel and Temple Mount were liberated, the city of Jerusalem was reunified, and the Jewish people were once again able to come to the Kotel in prayer and in song. This is the vision of the Kotel that many of us have come to know. [1]
This is the Kotel I have always envisioned. A wall with two sections, one for men and one for women. A wall that is approximately 200 feet long in the Prayer Plaza section, though now we can see the Kotel in the Southern Excavations, and even more can be seen in the Kotel Tunnels. A wall that was always overseen by someone appointed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and in recent days, we see a growing orthodox rule at the Kotel.
As a young woman, and certainly as a Reform rabbi, I dreamed that some day, women’s voices could be heard more loudly at the Kotel, at least on the women’s side. I dreamed that the Southern section of the Kotel would be viewed by the world as holy, in equal measure to that of the Kotel in the Prayer Plaza, since this is where men and women can pray together, and often where I choose to celebrate B’nai Mitzvah and other life cycle events. I dreamed of a Kotel Plaza that could once again be filled with secular singing and dancing, and not so occupied by the ultra-Orthodox community, who don’t respect me as a Jew or a woman, let alone as a rabbi.
But I NEVER dreamed of a Kotel that would have one section for the Orthodox, to be overseen by the Chief Rabbinate’s disciple, and one section for the rest of the Jewish community, an egalitarian section, to be overseen by someone from within the secular government. I NEVER dreamed that women might be allowed to pray at more than 50% of the Kotel, for if the Kotel is divided in half, and a piece of the Orthodox section is reserved for women, even a very small section, then this will be the case. And I NEVER dreamed that a former member of the K’nesset, Natan Sharansky, the current chairman of the Jewish Agency, would be shouting from the treetops: One Western Wall for One Jewish People.
[1] This section was adapted from information found on thekotel.org.
For the rest of the this sermon, please download below.
For More Information About
Rabbi Bravo's Views of Israel:
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