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Itongadol.- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Sunday his commitment to a decision allocating an area at the Western Wall for egalitarian nixed-gender Jewish prayer, despite growing opposition from rabbis and political allies.
The cabinet in January approved an “historic” plan allowing men and women to pray together in an area adjacent to the current Western Wall prayer plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The new prayer section at the Robinson’s Arch site next to the existing plaza would not be under the control of the Orthodox establishment. The Orthodox chief rabbis who have openly opposed the arrangement were due to hold a meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, but it was called off.
“The prime minister asked the chief rabbis and the Western Wall rabbi to send their comments within two to three weeks, as part of the agreement,” an official in Netanyahu’s office said.
“At the same time, the prime minister remains committed to the government’s decision,” the official said.
Jerusalem’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said Sunday that the plan to create a mixed-gender prayer section at the Western Wall was the equivalent of destroying the holy site altogether.
Ultra-Orthodox members of Netanyahu’s coalition have also challenged the arrangement, but Channel 10 television called the dispute a “lovers’ tiff,” with neither side wanting to break the bond.
An Israeli official told AFP that the decision on the new prayer section still needed to be validated by the religious services minister, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
The Western Wall is venerated by Jews as a remnant of a wall supporting the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
Above it sits the compound housing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. The Dome is built over the traditional location of the Temple’s inner sanctum, the holiest site in Judaism.