Kol Hai News is reporting on an interesting psak issued by Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel and other Holy Sites regarding Purim in Kever Rochel.

The interesting brouhaha right now is the decision yesterday by Rabbi Rabinovitch when VP Mike Pence went to the Kotel. Rabbi Rabinovitch decided that the male and female journalists and photographers needed to be separated with the women placed behind the men and their site of view cut off, making their work difficult.

I don't know what is the right move in such a situation.
On the one hand, this was not a religious Jewish Orthodox prayer session - the entire Kotel had been cleared out of people for Pence's visit, so no Jews were praying there, so technically no separation was really needed. Also, this was not a situation of mingling, but of professional journalists trying to work and document the event.
On the other hand, it is the Kotel, and I can see Rabbi Rabinovitch not wanting to differentiate between events, especially as he makes the rules of conduct in the Kotel area stricter over time - even though many events (though fewer and fewer as time goes on) there are mixed.
Additionally, and this is a he says she says situation, Rabbi Rabinovitch says they had the same arrangements back when Trump visited the Kotel. The journalists deny that and say they were allowed to work as regular all together when Trump visited and this is new.

At the end of the day, I think the solution is that there needs to be some sort of set of rules decided on by some sort of body created for this purpose and not just by the whims of one person who does not have to answer to anybody.

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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One would think that a rabbi raising money for the poor is so common, and even part of the job, that it would not be a big deal. Yet somehow, the other day, it was discovered that Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch was raising money for the poor through his contacts of donors and some people made a stink about it saying he is not allowed to be doing so as a State employee.

So, the Minister of Religious Affairs, David Azoulai, is proposing a law that will allow the Rav HaKotel, to do so. The Kotel Rabbi really fulfills three roles - Kotel Rabbi and Rabbi of the various Holy Sites and Director of the Kotel Heritage Fund. In his role as rabbi, the poor and needy naturally see in him someone who can help them and they make requests. This is something rabbinic leaders were always involved in.

The new law, assuming it passes, will allow the Kotel Rabbi to take requests from donors looking for his assistance in passing along donations. He will not be allowed to cold call donors asking for donations - only if a donor approaches him can he assist.

The donors will put in writing the parameters for their donations to be distributed and based on those parameters the Kotel Rabbi will direct the requests, and he will not be allowed to include any personal recommendation. The donations will be made directly by the donors to the organizations or needy - without the rabbi as a middleman. Every 3 months the rabbi will sub,it a report on how many such requests were made, the amounts and the identity of the donors. Any instance of a potential conflict of interests will be directed by the rav to the Legal Counsel fo the Rabbanut for direction.
source: Behadrei

Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel has been relatively quiet recently. I won't say it has been without incident, but it has been much quieter. After it leading the headlines time and again every month for a long period of time, we suddenly hear hardly anything about it.

I guess to make up for the quiet a new front seems to be opening. Chanukah.

3 female MKs, Michal Rozin, Tamar Zandberg, and Kasanya Svetlova, have sent a letter to Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, requesting that he include women in the menora-lighting ceremonies.

In their letter, they reference the fact that at the yearly lighting ceremonies he honors MKs, important people and many other people, all being men, with lighting the menora by the Kotel. There is no menora-lighting in the women's section. They ask for inclusion and to have women lighting the menora as well, considering that both men and women are obligated in lighting chanukah candles.

To me this looks like a winning argument, considering the argument he always makes against womens minyonim, tefillin and torah reading is that they aren't obligated so their motives are questionable and it is an attempted provocation. In this case, women are obligated the same way men are, so that argument cannot be used against them.

Rav Rabinovitch responded by saying that this request, made by external organizations that are extremists, is an attempt to damage the efforts being made to come to a solution that will be acceptable to all the various streams. He calls the request to have a Chanukah lighting ceremony in the women's section nothing but a provocation to derail those talks rather than to help find a solution for everyone.
source: NRG

I think Rabbi Rabinovitch should have told them that married women are not supposed to light (according to some opinions, largely accepted in some frum circles), as they are part of the lighting of their husbands. I wonder how well that would have gone over.

I don't know what to do with this. Something about it, about the response - not the original, made me laugh and the entire story makes me cringe.

Linda Siegel-Richman , a teacher, was banned from the Kotel when she went, after a day of teaching at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, to the Kotel with a kippa on her head.

According to Ynet, Siegel-Richman had gone to the Kotel to daven and to put in notes from her students back home in Denver, Colorado. She says she was by the Kotel and nobody said anything to her or stopped her. She went out to the area of the Cardo to get herself a drink and when she went back to the Kotel she was stopped by ushers who did not let her in.

After describing what happened, Siegel-Richman said that she is able to go anywhere she wants in the United States with a kippa on her head, but only in Israel she cannot do so freely.

Today, Ynet reports, Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, apologized and said that while he does not know the details of the incident and has received no report of it even from the police, if it happened it was a mistake by the ushers to prevent her from entering the Kotel area. He also invited Siegel-Richman to come back to the Kotel for a visit.

Rabinovitch blamed the response of the ushers, if it even happened, on the Women of the Wall, who have created an atmosphere of suspicion as a result of their vocal conflict. They have created an atmosphere in which worshipers suffer, including Linda. Rav Rabinovitch said that the Kotel is open to every man and woman, and also to a woman with a kippa.

I think had she been wearing a black kippa, rather than a knitted kippa, maybe this entire incident would not have happened... :-)

It is sad that we have these fights. It is funny that Rabbi Rabinovitch has to say something like this.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinotch, the rav of the Kotel, said yesterday that in light of what happened in the morning, with the Women of the Wall taking the Torah and treating it like a random object, anybody who was present at the Kotel at the time should fast as if it had fallen to the floor.

I am curious as to the source of this necessity to fast. If you know, please comment.

I am also not sure why what they did was considered treating it like a random object. People pass the Torah to others fairly regular in our regular services. The person removes the Torah from the aron kodesh and passes it to the chazzan. On simchas torah people holding the Torah during the dancing pass it to the next person assigned to holding it.

Why is one person passing the Torah to the women yesterday any different than the normal passing of the Torah from person to person?

These questions do not take any stand on whether or not the Women of the Wall should be reading from the Torah at the Kotel or not. I just don't understand Rav Rabinovitch's ruling.

There has been a funny, if abhorrent, Facebook page that recently became popular. The page is called "Notes I took from the Kotel" (in Hebrew), and it displays notes that this fellow, supposedly some guy named Amos from Holon, supposedly took from the Kotel.

"Amos" has claimed that it is real and it is in the public interest to know. This is how he justifies exposing the notes. Also, he says he never displays the names on the notes, only the prayer or request written on it.

I recently came across the page, and found the few displayed notes I saw to be interesting. Even though taking the notes out and putting them on display, if he is actually doing it as he has claimed over and over again, is morally problematic, the content was fascinating.

That was until Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz, rav of the Kotel and ther holy sites, got wind of what was going on. Rabbi Rabinovitz called it a despicable crime, and even filed a complaint with the police about it.

In response, Amos put up a post saying he is ending his activities on the site, and in truth he is not Amos, is not from Holon, and the notes were not really taken from the Kotel but he had people writing them just for the prank he was pulling.
sources: ynetnews, Haaretz

Maybe, maybe not. Either way, Rabbi Rabinovitz's complaint seems to have done the job.

What i wonder is what the police could have done. What law was he breaking? who was he stealing from? Rabbi Rabinovitz says he was desecrating a holy site. Maybe, maybe not. I do not know if that would stand up, especially when the Western Wall Foundation removes notes a couple times a year as part of their cleaning and maintenance process. This is theft and that isn't? this is a desecration and that isn't? this is injurious to the feelings of people who placed the notes and that isn't? I am not sure a real crime would have been committed, had this actually been done, but I'd like to know what crime it could be considered, if any.

Funny story at the Kotel...

According to Ladaat, the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, visited the Kotel. As is the local custom, Yi donned a kippa for his visit. He donned one of the white kippot distributed at the entrance to the Kotel to bare-headed visitors.

Yi asked Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, if he could keep the kippa as a memento. Rav Rabinovitch allowed him to keep it, and added that the kippa was made in China and now is being returned to its country of origin.

Minister Naftali Bennet should be proud.. Increasing the imports-exports to Chhina, one kippa at a time...

The rav of the Kotel, Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, is looking into the possibility of replacing the current mechitza with a new one constructed of one-way glass. Obviously, the glass would be installed i a way that allows the women to see into the mens section, but prevents the men from looking into the womens section.

Women have approached both Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and Rav haKotel Shmuel Rabinovitch and have asked for a solution, specifically suggesting one-way glass, as during events and family celebrations (such as bar mitzvahs) the women have very little ability to see the proceedings on the other side. The women have been able to peek between the cracks in the stones, or some always can be found standing on chairs and looking over the wall. Most women, though, cannot do that, and even that is an uncomfortable solution.

So they have requested the mechitza be changed, to make it better for them to participate and view their family simchas on the other side of the wall.

According to JDN, Rav Metzger is in favor of the idea of one-way glass and is pushing for its implementation. According to Kipa, Rav Rabinovitch was approached and he is investigating the possibility. This solution is already in place in the tunnel area of the Kotel, but the solution may not work as well outdoors because of the way the sunlight falls. the one-way glass may not be effective outdoors the way it is indoors, and if the men can see into the womens side this will not be the solution. Currently, testing one-way glass panels has shown to be a problem, and a solution, perhaps additional tinting or frosting of the glass, is still being sought.

The hetter of Rav Moshe Feinstein to use glass for a mechitza clearly will not be applied here. The first reason is for obvious ones - the ultra-Orthodox just won't accept it. Even in regular Orthodox shuls glass partitions are not common, so while that hetter of Rav Moshe might be usable in some situations, it is not commonly applied. The second reason is because the hetter of Rav Moshe is only for glass to be ok as long as there is no issue of tzniyus - the women on the other side of the mechitza are all dressed modestly and covered up properly. if the women are not, then Rav Moshe would not allow glass to be used as a mechitza. And we all know that at the kotel, women come dressed in all ways and fashions. they might wrap the "Kotel skirt" over their waists, but that does not necessarily solve the tzniyus issues.

Hopefully a solution to the one-way glass will soon be found and applied, so that the women can feel more involved and will be happier with their visits to the Kotel.

On June 27, 1967, a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the Six Day War, a law was passed to protect the holy sites in Israel. A number of holy sites had just been recovered in the war, and they needed legislation to ensure the freedom of access to them, as well as to protect their holiness and sanctity.

The original law was fairly vague in detail, but it did punish the offender with imprisonment for anyone who desecrates or damages the holy site, or for anyone who impedes free access to anyone from any of the religions, to the place that is holy to them.

In 1981 the Minister of Religious Affairs amended the law, detailing specifically which sites around the country are included and protected by the law under the title of 'holy sites'.
The list includes:
Jerusalem:

• The Kotel, the cave of Shimon HaTzaddik, cave of the Sanhedrin, grave of Ovadiah from Bartenura, grave of Zecharya, monument of Absalom

With the sheer numbers of people who go to the Kotel and daven, it is no wonder that the public siddurim there would contain tremendous amounts of germs. The siddurim at the Kotel can be kind of nasty at times, and it is good to know that Rabbi Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel and other holy places, says that they replace the prayer books fairly often because of the high volume of use, and he intends to increase the frequency.

Why that announcement had to turn into a statement of misogyny I am not quite sure.

When asked about the results of a study that showed the siddurim at the Kotel contain all sorts of germs including strains of e-coli and fecal coliform, Rav Rabinovitch responded that "hundreds of women come each day to pray and they bury their faces in their siddurim and pour out their tears on the pages. It is an emotional sight that is unique to the womens section of the kotel and gives expression to the strength of the emotions of all those praying at the holy site. Not for naught does it say 'because of the righteous women Israel was redeemed'. The power of the prayer of the women is immeasurably greater than that of the men, in the merit of their tears, the emotions and the uplifting of the soul of the women.." (source: Kikar and Ynet)

Somehow, in the same breath as praising women for their devotion in prayer, he blames them for contaminating the siddurim with all sorts of germs including germs normally only found in fecal matter.

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The rav of the Kotel (and other holy sites), Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, has designed a plan to build a large complex in the Kotel plaza. The building will be 5 stories high, reaching to an equal height with the Kotel, and will house offices, conference rooms, classrooms for presentations and groups and rooms to host events. The plans have been under works for a long time and have already been approved.

Adding to the list of those opposing the complex, a list that already includes local residents and the Waqf due to their claims that this changes the face of the Kotel area, is Rav Elyashiv's family and other rabbonim.

In a letter signed by Rav Kanievsky, the sons of Rav Elyashiv, and the Gaavad of the Eida among others, the rabbonim have declared that these plans must be opposed and anybody who can protest it and prevent it from happening must do so. They express concern that the structure will cause an increase in activity that will harm the holiness of the place, and they question how this could have been planned without first asking the gedolei yisroel. They want a rabbinic committee established that will analyze any plan to make changes in the area so they can determine if it will harm the holiness of the place or not.

Rav Rabinovitch responds that the structure is meant to be a solution for the needs of the many visitors to the place, especially those thousands of groups that come from all over the country and need such classrooms. He says that unfortunately people with agendas have been spreading information that has no connection to reality and are attempting to harm the administration of the Kotel area... (source: Mynet)

I don't see how this will work, as on crowded days the Kotel plaza is so busy and often full that grabbing a lot of that space for a building that they probably wont let anybody into without arranging months in advance for hefty fees seems impossible.

As a curiosity, have the "children of Rav Elyashiv" already inherited his place on the list of gedolim that now they are signing on pashkevilim instead of him? I am sure they are respectable and honorable rabbonim, but just because they are his children do they automatically become the next leaders? I know nothing about them and have nothing for or against them - it just seems interesting that "the sons of Rav Elyashiv" signed on such a pashkevil.

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There are a number of fine people who give out free refreshments at the kotel during certain hours of the day, generally the early morning hours.

You can go to the Kotel from about 1 AM until about 7 AM and go to the side room, next to the entrance to the Kotel Tunnels, and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and some biscuits, on the house as they say.

That might be over. The proprietor of the 1 AM to 4 AM shift at the Kotel was recently told he could no longer give out food there. The rav of the Kotel, on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, invoked the law that says food cannot be distributed at the Kotel without coordinating first with the rav of the Kotel.

Suing The Kotel
Mr. Yaakovson decided to sue the State to allow him to continue distributing the food as he has been for the past 10 years. Yaakovson claims that he had been given permission after being initially told he couldn't continue, and then he was recently told to stop. As well, Yaakovson said he is not breaking the rule, as he distributes in a side room, not at the Kotel itself. Furthermore, he feels he is being discriminated against, as the fellow who gives out food from 4 AM to 7 AM were not told to stop.

The Rav of the Kotel, Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, responded on behalf of the State. Rav Rabinovitch said he is enforcing the rule that disallows the distribution, free or not is irrelevant, at the holy sites. Veing that it is at his discretion, he allowed it until it got to the point that it was creating a mess and was harming the holiness of the site. Furthermore, along with the filth it creates in the area of the Kotel, it attracts many "shnorrers" to come for the free food, and a general disturbance, along with unauthorized entry into the offices of the Keren L'Moreshet HaKotel HaMaaravi.

Rav Rabinovitch denied any discrimination, and claims that they will be stopping all people from distributing food, and not just Mr. Yaakovson. New guidelines for food distribution at the Kotel are being formulated, rav Rabinovitch said, and upon their completion and authorization, the new guidelines will be applied and enforced equally to everybody. At that point, Mr. Yaakovson will be welcome to review the new guidelines and appeal against them to the court, or distribute food according to the guidelines.

the Supreme Court decided there is nothing to decide. The rules are set by the Ministry of Tourism and the rav of the Kotel. With the new guidelines being formulated, Mr. Yaakovson will be able to act accordingly, and they have a month to complete the new guidelines and present them.

(See the Supreme Court decision. you might need to open in IE)

Amazing that this was a fight not over money, but over the right to distribute FREE food. It costs a lot of money to distribute free food at the kotel, and it costs an awful lot of money to file a case with the Supreme Court. That he spent that money to sue for the right to give out food for free, well that says something.

On Thursday I saw an article somewhere about people complaining about Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. the official Rav of the Holy Places of Israel and Chief Rabbi of the Kotel, that he is "haredi-izing" the kotel and other holy sites, making it less accessible to non-haredi and non-religious people, by making their stay their less comfortable by his agreeing to demands made by haredi groups.

The specific examples by the kotel we extending mechitzas out to the general plaza, along with making the womens section smaller.

On Shabbos, I was in Jerusalem in Ezras Torah down the block from where Rabbi Rabinovitch lives, and pretty much every week his opponents from Satmar protest at some point in front of his house and/or throw pashkevilim around his street right before shabbos.

The pashkevilim of this shabbos decried Rabbi Rabinovitch's attempt to "secularize" the holy sites around Israel, specifically Meron. He is forming some sort of council to decide on renovations and has applied to the Safra fund for funding as a tourist attraction. The pashkevil complains that he is secularizing it and instead of guarding it as a holy site is trying to bring non-religious people to be "tourists" there.

So, the secular don't like him because he makes things too haredi, and the haredi don't like him because he makes everything too secular.

Talk about not being able to please anybody! He has got some tough job there....