Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, rov of the Old City of Yerushalayim, has issued a sharply worded letter opposing a planned joint prayer gathering involving Jews and Christians at the Kosel, calling the event a desecration of Hashem’s name and urging that it be canceled. The letter was also signed by the Rishon LeTzion, Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar.
The controversial gathering is scheduled to take place at the Kosel on 26 Tishrei 5787, shortly after Sukkos. Rav Nebenzahl warned that holding such an event at one of Judaism’s holiest sites would constitute a desecration of both Hashem’s name and the sanctity of the location.
In his letter, Rav Nebenzahl describes the proposed gathering as a desecration of Hashem’s name and of the site of the Bais Hamikdash, expressing unequivocal opposition to allowing it to proceed. He states that the entire length of the Kosel and its surrounding areas, as well as the Southern Wall and Davidson Center, are sacred Jewish prayer sites.
Rav Nebenzahl further writes that there is a “severe prohibition against cooperating in any manner whatsoever or participating with them in this event.”
He called upon every G-d-fearing Jew to distance himself from the gathering and to work with determination toward preventing it from taking place.
Rav Nebenzahl also addressed reports claiming that he had given his approval to the planned event, emphatically denying that he had ever done so.
“I hereby deny any publication claiming that, Heaven forbid, I gave my approval to this grave event at the Kosel, the likes of which has not occurred since the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash,” he wrote.
The letter portrays the planned gathering as unprecedented since the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and warns of the serious spiritual and public consequences that could result from conducting such an event at the sacred site.
Adding considerable weight to the protest, Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar, the former Rishon LeTzion, added his signature to Rav Nebenzahl’s letter, joining the call against the planned joint prayer gathering.
Rav Amar’s participation reflects the seriousness with which leading rabbonim are viewing the proposal and broadens the rabbinic opposition to holding the event at the Kosel.
Concluding his letter, Rav Nebenzahl calls upon the public to actively seek the cancellation of the gathering.
“In these difficult days, when the honor of Hashem and those who study Torah is being desecrated, it is fitting for every G-d-fearing Jew to distance himself from the desecration of holiness and to act with mesirus nefesh to cancel the gathering, for the honor of Heaven and His Torah,” he wrote.
Rav Nebenzahl closes with an especially forceful declaration regarding participation alongside adherents of Christianity.
“Under no circumstances is it possible to participate together with believers in that man,” he wrote, using the traditional rabbinic reference to the central figure of Christianity.
The controversy comes amid years of disputes over the religious character of the Kosel and the activities permitted in and around its prayer areas. Previous battles have centered largely on efforts by the Reform and Conservative movements to conduct non-Orthodox prayer services at the site. The latest dispute, however, concerns an event involving joint prayer with Christians.
Rav Nebenzahl’s position is notable in light of his previous forceful condemnation of Jews who spit at or otherwise mistreat Christian clergy in the Old City. In those cases, he stressed that such behavior can constitute a serious desecration of Hashem’s name.
His opposition to mistreatment of Christians, however, is entirely separate from the current issue. Here, Rav Nebenzahl maintains that conducting a joint religious service with Christians at the Kosel itself crosses a fundamental religious boundary and constitutes a desecration of the sanctity of the site.
