Allow me to understand this correctly.

My wife, my daughter and my granddaughter could read from a Torah in any public park in the United States — in front of the White House, in the Grand Canyon — but they would not be permitted to do the same at the Kotel, the Western Wall?

Wikimedia Commons

A sign points the way to the Azarat Yisrael Plaza for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jersusalem.

Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah, built hospitals and transformed healthcare in the Land of Israel — but nevertheless, were she alive today, she would not be permitted to receive an aliyah at the Western Wall, less than a mile from the hospital she helped create?

I must be mistaken. I cannot possibly have this right. 

And yet. 

As eJewishPhilanthropy reported yesterday:

“A bill that would effectively criminalize egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, including in the southern section, passed its initial reading in the Knesset today by a 56–47 vote. The measure was hailed by Haredi and other Orthodox politicians as a victory for traditionalism and sharply denounced by progressive Jewish leaders and Israeli opposition members as a blow to religious freedom and an insult to Diaspora Jewry.” (“Western Wall gets swept up in Israeli government’s feud with the judiciary”)

I have been a lifelong Zionist. In the mid-1970s, I worked for the American Zionist Youth Foundation, promoting Israel on college campuses. I have worked for Jewish federations and “American Friends of” organizations. I have helped launch Israeli companies that brought success to their fields and pride to the country. I have traveled to Israel nearly 50 times. I am a proud Masorti Jew and have served as president of one of the international organizations affiliated with the Masorti Movement.

And I am not alone.

Long before Oct. 7, 2023, we stood with Israel. In the painful months since, we have stood even more firmly. At a time when Israel has lost more friends than it has gained, why would we choose to alienate over half of world Jewry with such reckless legislation?

We have been here before. The Second Temple was destroyed, in part, because of internal strife. Jerusalem was torn apart by warring Jewish factions who burned food supplies and weakened the city from within. I am a Masorti Jew who studies Talmud every week and have done so for the last 10 years. The Talmud is even more direct. In Bava Metzia 30b, our sages teach that the destruction came because of sinat chinam — baseless hatred — and a failure of moral responsibility.

Are we repeating that mistake?

The Talmud (Megillah 23a) states that women are theoretically eligible to be among the seven who read from the Torah, but were restricted because of kevod ha-tzibbur — the honor of the congregation. This is a rabbinic restriction, not a biblical prohibition. In our time, for the majority of the Jewish world, kevod ha-tzibbur is upheld — not diminished — when women read Torah and receive aliyot.

I understand that for some communities, their interpretation of kevod ha-tzibbur differs. Let them pray according to their convictions. No one seeks to impose change upon them. But surely there must be space at the Western Wall — a place sacred to all Jews — for pluralistic prayer.

Instead, we are building new walls within Judaism itself.

At a moment when Israel desperately needs friends, we cannot afford to lose even one. But unity does not mean silence. It means accountability. It means loving Israel enough to demand that it reflect the values of the entire Jewish people.

To Eric Fingerhut and the Jewish Federations of North America; to Russell Robinson and the Jewish National Fund; and to every organization that seeks financial support from pluralistic Jewish communities, the time has come to speak clearly: Inform Israel’s leadership that not one more dollar of North American Jewish philanthropy will flow through your institutions until the rulings of Israel’s Supreme Court are respected and efforts to criminalize pluralistic Judaism cease.

Some will say that such actions endanger Israel. My own mother might have said so. But I believe legislation that makes pluralism illegal is already endangering Israel — spiritually, morally and politically. 

I never imagined I would have to write those words. 

Mom, I cannot remain silent. You gave so much to Israel in your lifetime. For your daughter, your granddaughters and your great-granddaughters, it must be acceptable — even necessary — to raise our voices when Jewish women are treated as lesser at the very stones that symbolize our shared history.

Golda Meir once said, “Whether women are better than men I cannot say — but I can say they are certainly no worse.” I once stood with her at the Kotel when she was prime minister. I would not have wanted to explain this legislation to her.

Women in Israel and Jewish women around the world deserve dignity and respect. They should not face arrest for wanting to read from the Torah. The Torah is meant to unite us, not divide us.

The time has come for world Jewry to take a stand and be heard to say clearly to Israel’s leadership: On this, we are not with you. On this, we ask you to stand with us and vote “No.”

Tom Sudow has served on the boards and in leadership of a number of arms of the Masorti movement and was a delegate to the 2000 World Zionist Congress representing Mercaz. The opinions expressed here are his alone and do not represent nor should be considered to represent any organization.