Rabbi Rabinovitch overextends his authority at the Kotel

Before Vice President of the United States Mike Pence postponed (by a month) his upcoming trip to Israel he had announced that after his visit to the Western Wall he would like to hold a press conference in the Western Wall Plaza. Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch responded by saying he would not allow this to happen in this location as the Kotel  plaza is a holy place. As well, such a visit could inflame the region and cause riots.

As a result of this a number of MKs called out Rav Rabinovitch for this, including calling for changing his level of authority over the Kotel and putting a limit on his term in the position of Chief Rabbi of the Holy Places.

Personally, I am not sure what he is suddenly concerned about. I am not even sure what level or form of holiness is attributed to the Kotel Plaza. The Kotel itself has, at least, the holiness of a synagogue, if not more. But the plaza of the Kotel? what holiness does it hold?

Besides for that, the IDF regularly holds ceremonies there. There have been concerts there. There was recently a Ferrari "car show" there, along with other events that don't come to mind right now.

What could possibly be worse about a VP Mike Pence press conference than anything else that goes on in the Kotel Plaza?

Besides for that, why is worrying about possible nationalistic ramifications the job of Rabbi Rabinovitch? Let the police and army decide if this is a concern or not. What does Rabbi Rabinovitch know about such things? If the police think it might likely cause a problem they can't handle, they can say no to the press conference.

When he gets another chance next month, I hope Rabbi Rabinovitch reconsiders his position on this. I cannot think of any single event or decision that could possibly give a bigger boost to the recognition of Jewish authority in Jerusalem and the Kotel area than this, at this point in time.



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