High Court Petitioned for Pluralistic Prayer at Kosel

The Reform movement and Women of the Wall renewed their petition to the Israeli High Court on Thursday for a pluralistic prayer section at the Kosel.

The petition seeks to force the government to implement a plan devised several months ago and to which the government committed itself. However, staunch opposition from the chareidi parties and the chief rabbis have prevented the heterodox groups from changing the status quo at Judaism’s holiest site.

Government efforts at mediating a compromise on the issue between those groups and charedi leaders have so far proven futile. The new petition comes after a recent hearing at the High Court in which the judges expressed their impatience with what they see as official foot-dragging.

Reform and Conservative leaders joined Women of the Wall on Thursday in lashing out at the chareidim for thwarting their ambitions to gain a foothold at the Kosel.

Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall, made no attempt to disguise her feelings against chareidim in the group’s written statement to the court on Thursday, claiming that the upholding of traditional norms at the Kosel makes it “another state-funded chareidi refuge.”