Israel's Cabinet cast a vote which allows non-Orthodox Jewish prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday. Advocates stated that this decision marked a significant part of history for the government to support liberal forms of Judaism.
According to Yahoo! News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the decision to please the Jews living in America, where different streams of Judaism is widely accepted. The United States had been Israel's primary source of support. Despite the resistance of many ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist parties in Israel, Netanyahu appointed a committee in 2013 to address the issue. Since then, a temporary prayer platform was built for Conservative Jews, but they said it was not always available for them to use.
The Cabinet's decision will lead to the construction of a separate and permanent holy place for different prayers where the temporary platform is located, as reported by The Exponent Telegram. The new site will be created with a new entrance to the Western Wall area, supervised by a new management consisting of different representative members from the Reform and Conservative movements.
Moreover, the area will also be for Women of the Wall to conduct women's prayers, a pressing issue in the country for years as ultra-Orthodox Jews who formerly managed the Wall strongly disapprove of women to wear and carry religious articles and scrolls because these was traditionally reserved for men, as reported by Haaretz. Shmuel Rabinowitz, an ultra-Orthodox Rabbi managing the Western Wall, stated that ever since the Women of the Wall started their mass media activity, there has been an incessant dispute in the Western Wall where it should be a place for peace and faith.
The decision was made after a three-year negotiation, designed, to put an end to the disagreement that has been continuing since 1988. The plan for expansion would make an area of the site a place for both non-Orthodox and Orthodox ceremonies, even for singing (strict Orthodox does not allow women to sing in public).
