c. 1997 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Leaders of Israel’s Conservative Jewish movement have urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews after ultra-Orthodox militants attacked Conservative and Reform worshipers early Wednesday (June 11) at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.

Conservative and Reform leaders also say they are planning a”freedom march”next week along the Old City route where the worshipers were assaulted. The protest is designed to draw support from influential diaspora Jews _ including Americans _ gathering here for the annual meeting of the Jewish Agency, an international body that helps resettle Jews in Israel.”We’re calling for a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the incitement to violence against us that is now becoming more prevalent here,”said Rabbi Andrew Sachs, director of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, the organization of Conservative rabbis.

The conflict over prayer services at the Western Wall is another manifestation of the religious struggle within Israel between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Judaism. The Orthodox establishment controls Jewish religious life in Israel, but Conservative and Reform Jews have been demanding equal status.

Until Wednesday’s episode at the Wall, the most visible aspect of this conflict was the fight in the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, over proposed legislation that would codify Orthodox control over conversions to Judaism within Israel. The confrontation at the Western Wall could impede negotiations to reach a compromise over that legislation.

Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox groups have threatened to withdraw from Netanyahu’s governing coalition if legislation barring Conservative and Reform conversions to Judaism in Israel is not passed by the end of June.

Wednesday’s clashes erupted when a group of worshipers from the Israeli Conservative movement’s youth wing, Marom, gathered at dawn at the Western Wall together with other Reform and Conservative Jews. They planned to hold an”egalitarian”prayer service to celebrate Shavuot, the traditional Jewish holiday that marks the receiving of the Ten Commandments.

An egalitarian prayer service is one in which women participate equally with men in reading the Bible and in the public recitation of prayers _ both of which are anathema to Orthodox Jews who practice strict ritual separation of men and women. Orthodox women generally play no public role in synagogue services.

The worshipers were attacked by dozens of ultra-Orthodox youths, who spit at them, called them Nazis and threw bottles, rocks and feces at them _ even after they withdrew to an area further from the Western Wall.

Police sought to stop the clashes, but made no arrests. Sachs said he had filed criminal charges against the leaders of one yeshiva (religious school) overlooking the Wall from which stones, bottles and bags of fecal matter were thrown.

Orthodox politicians queried about Wednesday’s incident accused the Conservative and Reform Jews of creating”provocations.”Moreover, they said, that would work to expedite proposed legislation defining the Western Wall area as an Orthodox synagogue.

Such a designation would mean all non-Orthodox prayer services would be illegal at the site. The legislation was submitted recently, primarily to bar women’s prayer services at the Wall. But it would also outlaw”mixed”services in which men and women participate equally. “When people come who distort the Torah of Israel, which doesn’t permit women to wear prayer shawls or hold Torah scrolls, they have no right to pray together at the Western Wall. They are creating a provocation,”said Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Haim Miller, an ultra-Orthodox politician.

Meanwhile, Yossi Sarid of the liberal-left Meretz Party called on police to establish a special unit to act against ultra-Orthodox violence, which has become increasingly frequent in Jerusalem over issues ranging from Sabbath road closures to archeological digging in ancient Jewish burial grounds.”There is no Sabbath or holiday in the capital without violence,”said Sarid.”The (ultra-Orthodox) are attacking the flag, Zionism, the courts, secular Jews, Reform and Conservative Jews. The police need to set up special units to fight against the `intifada’ (uprising) of the ultra-Orthodox.” Sachs said Wednesday’s ultra-Orthodox attack was preceded by a round of verbal incitement against the Reform and Conservative movements. He cited a paid advertisement that ran in Tuesday’s English-language Jerusalem Post, which called non-Orthodox Judaism a”satanic cult”whose leaders could legitimately be punished by”summary execution.” Sachs asked the Post to issue a public apology for the advertisement, which he described as an”incitement to violence.”The advertisement was signed by a group of rabbis, some of whom identified themselves as”members”of such Orthodox groups as the Rabbinical Council of America, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Agudat Yisrael, and Lubavitch-Chabad.

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