Jerusalem (special) --Ninety men and women who wanted to pray together quietly walked to the relatively unknown southern wall supporting the Temple Mount on a recent Friday afternoon in advance of Shabbat.

A guide, pointing to the mosque looming above the high wall, told us that it was possible we might hear taunts from Arab youths as our services progressed, but that we should not be overly concerned. As it turned out, our activities on grounds which most consider to be an archeological area, were not interrupted.

Both the southern wall and the more famous western wall--or Kotel-- were built by King Herod to enlarge the mount on which Judaism's Second Temple stood. After Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 CE, the western wall became an object of veneration because of its association with the Temple, even though it was not itself a part of the holy structure.

Although the southern wall served the same function as the western wall --to help support the enlarged grounds on which the Temple complex stood--it never was so revered. Soon after Israeli forces captured the Old City from the Jordanians in the 1967 War, it bulldozed structures near the western wall to create a large open plaza in which people could pray. The southern wall, on the other hand, to this day has been left relatively unchanged--so much so that one must walk carefully to the site so as not to trip on small stones or other archeological debris.  At the southern wall, men and women could pray together--as is the tradition in non-Orthodox

San Diegans pray at Men's section of Kotel

movements--without being harrassed. In the plaza facing the western wall, on the other hand, previous efforts to hold mixed services have created tense confrontations and some violence with the ultra-Orthodox who assert spiritual guardianship over the site and insist that men pray to the left of a mehitza and women to the right as they face the wall.

So members of our group visited the western wall briefly for individual contemplation and prayer, but went to the southern wall for group prayer. 

Prior to the actual Shabbat service, Lou Rosen and Myla Wingard--with the help of Conservative Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of San Diego's  Tifereth Israel Synagogue--sprung a little surprise on their fellow San Diegans. Below the southern wall, they held a second wedding ceremony, reaffirming the marriage vows made to each other in San Diego on Aug. 18, 1996 and thereby realizing a long-held wish of the bride's to be married in the Holy City.

Because Susan and El Meltzer and Nancy and I had attended Lou and Myla's original wedding, we were given the honor of holding up a tallit that served as a chuppah for the impromptu rite. For several reasons, the ceremony was memorable not only for the wedding party, but also for other members of the Shalom '98 Mission to Israel sponsored by the United Jewish Federation of San Diego.  First, we were alongside an abutment of the holiest site in Judaism. At such a location, no synagogue anywhere, no matter how beautiful, could match the sense of awe generated as the setting sun reflects golden off Jerusalem's rooftops. Second, earlier on that Friday, Nov. 6, we had

Mazal Tov -- In ceremony at Southern Wall, Lou Rosen breaks the traditional glass as his bride Myla Wingard observes.  Eli Meltzer and Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal are seen at right.

visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, remembering those who had paid with their lives for being Jews. As the Yad Vashem lecture on the Holocaust concluded, an announcement was made to our group that there just had been another terrorist bombing--this one at the Machane Yehuda market which we had visited as a group only two days before. In such a context, Myla's and Lou's subsequent renewal of their vows seemed to constitute a solemn pledge toward the continuation of the Jewish people, regardless of the forces arrayed against us. 

And third, having the ceremony at the southern wall was a way of saying that notwithstanding the intolerance for non-Orthodox movements within Israel, this group--and by extension Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews everywhere--would persist in expressing their spirituality on their own terms.

At the end of a wedding ceremony, the groom traditionally breaks a glass underfoot. The explanation is that even in times of great happiness, Jews remember the destruction of the Temple. At this site, literally amid ruins associated with the southern retaining wall of the Temple Mount, the custom had a particular poignancy. And, it seemed to me at least, that the shouts of "Mazal Tov! " reverberated off the wall and back into our spirits.

From one high point, we went quickly to another, as women in our group were informed that small Shabbat candles had been placed along a ledge for them to light, should they so desire. Waving their hands over the candles and then covering their eyes in prayer, as Jewish women have done for so many centuries, caused not a few of them to weep in gratitude over the specialness of the moment. Personally, I shall never forget witnessing how moved Beth Ilko and Dolores Ilko--mother-in-law and daughter-in-law--were on this occasion. And then, seated on stone benches with our backs to the southern wall, we participated in the Conservative Kabbalat Shabbat service led by Rabbi Rosenthal. We were in the place upon which so much of our liturgy is focused: Jerusalem. Never before had the prayers and responsive readings seemed so vibrant. Immediately following the services and for days afterwards, Shalom '98 mission members thanked Rabbi Rosenthal for what some described as one of the most spiritual moments of their lives.

Lighting Shabbos candles at Southern wall

 * * *
Utilizing the southern wall for non-Orthodox services and the western wall for Orthodox services may seem an obvious compromise between the movements, but nothing in Jerusalem ever is so easy. Thanks to the fact that Rebecca Newman was traveling with us--she is the national campaign chair of the UJA's Women's Division--various Israeli politicians treated our group with VIP status. We were told that special arrangements had to be made to permit us access to the southern wall.

Given that we were warned about possible Arab taunts, and given also that we knew that the haredim around the corner would have disapproved of our service had they known about it, the Shabbat celebration had a bittersweet quality. Like a couple that elopes to get married because their families don't approve of them, we obviously were affected by the romance of the occasion. But, on the other hand, being able to worship openly and routinely as non-Orthodox Jews at such a spot would have given us the warmth of family acceptance.

Besides the issue of access to the wall, the question of non-Orthodox conversions performed in Israel was a matter of considerable concern to our group. A succession of speakers who addressed our delegation either brought up the subject on their own or we questioned them about it.

No speaker had more influence on the issue than Ya'acov Ne'eman, who then was Minister of Finance, but who, at this writing, recently had resigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet. Ne'eman, who is Orthodox, last year chaired a commission composed of representatives of Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements which tackled the issue of what rabbis shall have the right in Israel to perform the conversions.

"Regarding the conversion issue, I wanted to speak only about the conversion of currencies, but if you force me to talk about it, I will say a few words," he quipped. "It is a very delicate and complicated issue. The only way there can be a result is through a dialogue with understanding. ...

"The only nation that survived all the persecutions is the Jewish nation because we believe in one God; we believe that we are created by God, and we believe that God gave us 613 commands and that we cannot change the rules of God. These are the principles of Judaism. The question of how many commands each of us practices is a personal question; it is our own responsibility."

In what was construed as differentiating his position from those Orthodox who say a convert to Judaism must take an oath to incorporate all 613 commands into his or her way of life, Ne'eman told of telling a rabbi that he personally does not intend to keep all 613 commandments. The rabbi, whom he did not identify, said "'You too?' and I said 'yes...I think there is a command that says you have to divorce your wife...and another that says a divorced wife, it's a mitzvah to remarry her.' I said 'I do not intend to divorce my wife and I definitely do not intend to remarry her!' He laughed too, and he understood that some of the commands are intended for priests."

In Ne'eman's view, the qualification test for conversion "must be the same test that existed since we left Egypt and it requires three elements: 1) brit milah (for a male) or mikvah (for a female or male); 2) It has to be performed before a religious court and 3) there must be acceptance of the Jewish commands. You may not change these laws because they were given to us by God, but we can understand each other and try to have a dialogue without forcing on somebody else our belief."

He added that since the uproar last year over the issue, "the problem is now being quiet because all the parties understood that...bringing this issue in order to widen the gap is harming all of us. The Jewish Agency is now working on the establishment of the Institute for Jewish Studies.

"Conversion was agreed by all the parties that it will be performed under a uniform law here in Israel, which is a religious law, and I think all of us will try to be a little more open to one another," Ne'eman said.

After Ne'eman took his leave from the group, I asked Rabbi Rosenthal how he, as a representative of the San Diego Rabbinical Association--which is comprised of representatives of the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements--reacted to what Ne'eman had to say.

"It is the same approach that he has advanced previously, which was adopted by his Ne'eman committee as far as how to proceed with conversions," the rabbi replied. "So it is not new--the question is going to be the implementation...whether the Orthodox rabbinate will convert the graduates of this Institute (for Religious Studies). On that we will have to wait and see."

Meanwhile, Rosenthal noted, because Israel's chief rabbinate did not agree to the recommendations of the Ne'eman committee, a court suit by the non-Orthodox movements seeking recognition for their conversions in Israel still is pending. Conversions performed by the non-Orthodox movements outside Israel are recognized as qualifying one for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.

The idea behind the Institute is that rabbis from all streams of Judaism would serve there as teachers, while the actual conversion ceremony itself would be handled by the Orthodox rabbinate.

"It is not the first choice, but compromise is never the first choice," Rosenthal said. "What remains to be seen is whether or not the Orthodox rabbinate will convert converts that will afterwards remain with the Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist movements. That will be the test."

Didn't Ne'eman's story about not demanding of converts that they honor all 613 commandments point in that direction?

"Yes," Rosenthal replied, "but that is not his choice; it is the choice of the Orthodox rabbinate, so what he says may be different than what the Orthodox rabbinate says."

Among other speakers weighing in on the religious pluralism issue was Carol Solomon, national president of the United Jewish Appeal, who was also visiting Israel at the time of the mission.

"In many ways as we celebrate this 50th anniversary year (of Israel's statehood), Israel really is at a crossroads," Solomon said. "What does it mean to be a Jew? Israelis are asking themselves in the division between religious and secular some of the same questions that we ask in our community..."

Solomon recommended that "we can take the religious pluralism and diversity and the more open society that we developed...in our communities in the United States, and this can be a great export to the state of Israel. "

Another of our speakers was Roni Milo, who then was completing his term as mayor of Tel Aviv and was in the process of building a new, centrist party from which to launch an expected bid to become prime minister.

Milo, who tends toward the secular, said he was quite concerned by
"the attacks of extreme Orthodox groups in Israel to dictate the way of
life in this country. ...All of us respect religion. All of respect the rabbis
and those who deal with religion, but...the majority would like to see a
free country with freedom of choice, without dictates from anyone to
anyone else how we should live and what we should do in free time in
Israeli life," he said.

He said the central Israeli government since Netanyahu took office has tried to impose rules in Tel Aviv to close movie theaters and coffee shops on the Shabbat, and has initiated debates "whether we are going to have freedom of choice, not only about entertaining but about how we should dress, what we should hear and see."

Plans to have three female soldiers and one male soldier sing Hatikvah at ceremonies marking the beginning of Israeli President Ezer Weizman's second term of office had to be scrapped, Milo said, because "the extreme Orthodox said they are not allowing girls to sing in the Knesset because the voice of a woman is something that is erotic."

Also, he said, representatives of Orthodox parties now have replaced archeologists on the government committee which determines whether an archeological site may be excavated, he said. 

"We have nothing against freedom of choice for every group," he said. "The extreme Orthodox can live their own way and others can live their own way--the religious, the non-religious, the liberals, the Reform, the Conservatives; let everyone choose his way. For us this is the major issue for the next election and, I believe, for the next century."

Concerning conversion, Milo said that to say the Orthodox way shall be the only way is wrong. "If you want to unify people, we must respect everyone," he added.

Prof. Paul Litz of Tel Aviv University, invited by the Shalom '98 Mission to lecture on the subject of religiosity in Israel, said he believed there is a "very subtle change which is going on in this country" which will lead to the conclusion that "there will be no alternative but to accept the concept of religious pluralism."

"But we are living in the Middle East and you people living in America, when you say you will solve a problem in America, that means within six months time. In the Middle East, the future is some distant concept, and we know it is a long hard, battle."

Litz said that there is a common misconception that in Israel everyone is either Orthodox or secular and that there is nothing in between. He said Israel can be better understood as having 1) Ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, made up of both Chasidim of Polish spiritual origin and Mitnagdim of Lithuanian spiritual origin; 2) Modern Orthodox, who are attached to the biblical land of Israel won from the Arabs in the 1967 war; 3) Traditional Jews, including his fellow Reform Jews who observe some customs and not others; 4) Secular Jews, who don't think of themselves as religious but incorporate many religious practices into their lives, and 5) Ideologically Secular Jews.

For more than 30 years, he said, polls have been tracking what kinds of religious practices Israeli Jews incorporate into their lives. Jews of all streams are included in the sampling, which has found:
*80 percent light Shabbat candles, the overwhelming majority of them every Friday night.
*95 percent participate in a Passover seder.
*91 percent light Chanukah candles.
*81 percent fast on Yom Kippur.
*83 percent have a bar mitzvah.
*98 percent have a mezuzah on their door.
*70 percent keep full kosher and another 18 percent keep "sometimes" kosher.

"Israeli secularists are not really secular," Litz concluded from these statistics. "But they have a problem...with the religious establishment. They don't have a problem with religion."

He said that in discussions with students at Tel Aviv University, "I am finding again and again that they actually want some level of spirituality... in their lives, but they haven't found it within the formal frameworks in this country, and therefore they are going to countries like India and the Far East and finding it in some of the frameworks over there, where clearly we in this country should be fulfilling their needs."

A fifth and smallest category comprises those Israelis who are "ideologically secular," that is, opposed to any kind of religious practice. He estimated that these comprise 3 percent of the population. 

"We have to realize that we in Israel, as a young country, only 50 years old, we have not worked out many of our issues," Litz said. "There is a situation that we all speak about in history, and that is when societies are insecure, what they tend to do is close their level of tolerance and they criticize the others for not doing the right thing. 

"The 'Who is a Jew' issue--the conversion law--many of the other things which affect you (American) people so closely, I must be honest, are issues which have nothing to do with you; they are issues which are part of our own internal tension," he said. 

"Why? Because what is going to happen with religion is an issue of such major political importance that we believe--each group believes--that unless we win, unless we go for real victory, we are not going to be able to dominate the society in terms of our own religious beliefs."