Bnot Yisrael Create Mammoth Kiddush Hashem At The Kotel

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10,000 Girls Take Part In Atzeret Tefillah Arranged With The Support And Encouragement Of Gedolei Yisrael

10,000 girls packed the Kotel Plaza this past Friday morning, Rosh Chodesh Adar Beit, for an atzeret tefillah arranged with the encouragement of gedolei Yisrael.

The gathering was orchestrated to coincide at a time when the leaders of the American Reform and Conservative movements were to be gathering at the Kotel. The atzeret tefillah served as a counter to the provocation against Jewish law and tradition carried out by those from the Reform and Conservative communities and others who wish to compromise the kedushah of the Kotel. 

This event of kiddush Sheim Shomayim was arranged and sponsored under the auspices of Eretz Hakodesh, on the instructions of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a, and Rav Gershon Edelstein, shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnai Brak. Thousands of seminary girls in Yerushalayim, both native Israelis and those from abroad who are studying in Eretz Yisroel, participated in the tefillah rally. “Friday morning’s tefillah event at the Kotel was so inspiring”, commented one menaheles of an American seminary. “Our girls returned on such a spiritual high that remained with them the entire Shabbat.”

This atzeret tefillah was designed, based on a directive handed down some years ago by Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l to Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Chairman of Eretz HaKodesh of the WZO. At that time, a week before Sunday, Rosh Chodesh Sivan 2013, Rabbi Lerner had an idea that he personally shared with Rav Shteinman: instead of battling with the liberal elements seeking to arrange all-female minyanim (with their various antics) at the Kotel, why not simply fill the Kotel Plaza with those who are chareidim l’devar Hashem? By filling the women’s section and the plaza with true bnos Yisrael, by default, there would not be room for those who wish to cause a provocation and desecrate the Kotel. Rav Shteinman liked the idea very much. Rabbi Lerner also received a brachah for his endeavor, at that time, from Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a and the Ger Rebbe, shlit”a. The next day, Rabbi Lerner received a phone call from the administrator of Rav Shteinman’s seminaries, “The Rosh HaYeshiva wants to know: would you sponsor buses to take the girls to the Kotel for this atzeret tefillah?” Rabbi Lerner responded in the affirmative and committed to raise the necessary monies to cover the expenses of the busing. That atzerest tefillah, which was an assembly of kiddush Sheim Shomayim, was followed by several similar ones over the years, always at the direction of gedolei Yisrael.

Last week’s gathering was the latest such event, and the largest to date. This time around, Rabbi Lerner was called upon to raise the projected $50,000 needed to pay for the busing of high school and seminary girls. A call went out in the Israeli Yated Ne’eman newspaper and elsewhere, asking bnos Yisrael to gather at the Kotel on Rosh Chodesh morning. Rabbi Nechemya Malinowitz, of the Igud Yeshivos and Seminaries of Bnai Chul, reached out to all the seminaries in Eretz Yisrael with whom he has worked so closely over the last two years of COVID, conveying the desire of gedolei Yisrael for the girls to take part in this gathering. Arrangements were made by Degel HaTorah representatives to ensure that there would be sufficient Egged buses for those who would be taking public transportation to the atzeres. Preparations were made with the proper authorities to guarantee maximum security and decorum.

What was unique this time was that the leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements from the United States had come to Israel to participate in the Jewish Agency for Israel annual Board of Governors meetings. Their agenda included an appearance at the Kotel on Rosh Chodesh, when the so-called “Women of the Wall” have infamously held “minyanim,” with krias haTorah and while wearing talis and tefilllin. The provocateurs were not quite prepared for what they would encounter at the Kotel, a massive crowd of 10,000 bnos Yisrael, including close to 1,500 American seminary students – who had arrived by bus to daven Shacharit at the Kotel.

“I arrived at the Kosel at approximately 5:30 a.m.,” Rabbi Malinowitz related. “By 6:15 a.m., the women’s side of the Kotel, the plaza, every available space, began to fill up with girls, and the official Rosh Chodesh minyan for Shacharis, under the direction of Rav Shmuel Rabinovich, rav of the Kotel, complete with loudspeakers,
began at about 6:40 a.m.”

Noted chazzan Avremi Roth led the davening, which featured a beautiful, inspiring Hallel. Among those present were MK Yitzchok Pindrus, who was integrally involved in coordinating the gathering, and Rav Rabinovich.

The Reform and Conservative representatives, along with the Women of the Wall, were cordoned off in a far corner of the plaza, away from the thousands of bnos Yisrael, with many police on hand to maintain the peace. 

“The gathering made a significant statement,” observed Rabbi Malinowitz. “The Reform and Conservative movements have consistently attempted to paint a picture of strong support for their cause from the Diaspora. The presence of so many frum American girls, was therefore significant. The fact that the Reform and Conservative could not muster more than a paltry crowd of about 50 people spoke volumes. Indeed, the head of the Reform movement remarked that he was disgraced and embarrassed.”

“At the same time,” added Rabbi Malinowitz, “the fact that the gedolei Yisrael’s statement encouraging this gathering resulted in the participation of 10,000 bnos Yisrael was a tremendous kiddush Hashem. It was the bnos Yisrael who came to daven; the others only came for a public relations story.”

“Of course, the Reform, the left-wing media and their enablers will paint the event as a provocation,” said Rabbi Malinowitz. “But deep down they know the truth – that it was a peaceful expression of achdut on the side of Torah-observant Jewry, and a loud call to one and all to let them know that those who are truly invested in the Kotel are the religious community in Israel and abroad.” Indeed, this is noteworthy at a time when those on the left in Israel are proposing drastic changes to the Kotel that would completely compromise the sanctity of this makom kadosh. 

It was just a couple of months ago that Eretz Hakodesh revealed, in a stunning exposé, in an informational video distributed by the Reform movement, its leaders fully admitted that despite the struggle that they are waging to revise the layout of the Kotel, the Kotel actually does not interest them at all, and they are merely using it in a symbolic fashion in their effort to reshape the entire Jewish culture of the State of Israel.

“Especially now that the chareidi parties are out of the governing coalition,” said Rabbi Lerner, “the Reform movement is trying to exert pressure ‘in the name of Diaspora Jewry.’  They wish to change the character of the Kotel, of Shabbat, of kashrut, of geirut, of the entire Jewish state. It is critical at this point in time to recognize the vital role of Diaspora Jewry to raise our voices and prove to the Israeli government that Diaspora Jewry wishes to maintain the status quo at the Kotel and the Jewish integrity of Israel.”