c. 1997 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ In the latest round of conflict between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews here, U.S. Reform Jewish leaders agreed to forgo a prayer service at the Western Wall planned for Saturday (Dec. 20) under pressure from Israeli Orthodox rabbis who object to men and women praying together at the site.

The service _ a”havdalah”ceremony marking the end of the Jewish Sabbath _ traditionally is celebrated in mixed gatherings even by many Orthodox men and women.

However, repeated clashes at the Western Wall _ Judaism’s holiest site _ between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews over mixed-gender and womens’ prayer services have heightened tensions over the participation of women in such ceremonies. The Western Wall is a remnant of a retaining wall that supported the base of the Jerusalem Temple destroyed by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago.

Past attempts to hold mixed-gender or women-only services at the Wall have ended in physical attacks by ultra-Orthodox extremists.

The Reform leaders said they canceled the service in response to a request from Israeli Finance Minister Ya’acov Ne’eman, who warned holding the brief ceremony could damage delicate negotiations under way to find a compromise between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews over the issue of conversions to Judaism in Israel.

A government-appointed committee, led by Ne’eman and including representatives of both Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements in Israel, is currently trying to meet a Jan. 31 deadline for settling the conversion dispute.

Currently, Israel’s Orthodox establishment has de facto control over the conversion process and non-Orthodox leaders have sought to break the monopoly.”We’re not happy about canceling the havdalah service, because the Wall belongs to the entire Jewish people, not just one segment,”said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, U.S. Reform Judaism’s congregational umbrella group.”But given the importance of the negotiations now going on, we agreed to hold off so as not to appear provocative.” Under a compromise proposed by Ne’eman, Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis _ both Reform and Conservative _ would participate equally in the instruction of potential converts to Judaism. However, Israel’s Orthodox establishment would retain final control over conversion ceremonies.

Yoffie said in an interview Monday (Dec. 22) he is pessimistic the Ne’eman committee negotiations will end successfully.”We have some weighty issues on the table, and the fact the (Orthodox) chief rabbis have refused to participate raises doubts that any solution agreed upon will hold up on the Orthodox side,”Yoffie said.

Yoffie was in Israel as part of a high-level delegation of 200 Reform movement leaders there for the three-day World Zionist Organization Congress, which begins Tuesday (Dec. 23).

The Reform delegation represents the largest delegation at the Congress, created by Zionist pioneer Theodore Herzl 100 years ago in Basel, Switzerland. The Congress oversees the distribution of money raised by Jews outside Israel for the Jewish state, and is due for a major restructuring.

The Congress also is expected to voice the demands of a growing body of diaspora Jews for religious tolerance and pluralism in Israel, where Orthodox Jewish groups enjoy a hegemony over all Israeli state-run religious activities.

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