Religious affairs minister calls Reform Jews ‘a disaster’

Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay reportedly called Reform Jews “a disaster for the people of Israel.”

Azoulay, of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party, made the comments during a meeting to discuss the Women of the Wall group, the Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported Wednesday. The meeting took place on Tuesday between Azoulay and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), according to the report.

Azoulay is trying to clamp down on non-Orthodox practices at the Western Wall. His predecessor, Naftali Bennett, head of Jewish Home, had agreed to a plan to establish an egalitarian section in an area adjacent to the Western Wall plaza known as Robinson’s Arch. The plan was formulated by Cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit and Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky to resolve religious conflict at the wall.

But Azoulay appears to be walking back the compromise.

“The Western Wall belongs to everybody,” Azoulay said, according to Israel Hayom. “What these women do is provocation. To come with tallitot, tefillin and a Torah scroll is not praying but rather provocation.”

The Haredi Orthodox parties were not part of the previous government.

Women of the Wall meets at the beginning of each Jewish month for a women’s service at the Western Wall. Many of the women wear tallitot and tefillin, and have been lobbying to be allowed to read from the Torah during the service. Twice in recent months the group has read from a Torah smuggled into the women’s section.

Despite Azoulay’s comment, Women of the Wall does not align with the Reform Movement and is not affiliated with any group. The organization is made up of women from across the religious spectrum, the group says.

Religious Affairs Minister David Azoulay attends a Shas party meeting at the Knesset on June 8, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“The government is waging war against Women of the Wall,” the group said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“We expect Ayelet Shaked, like her predecessor, to announce unequivocally that as a woman and a Justice Minister, she will not sign discriminatory regulations, and will not be a part of exclusion of women from the Western Wall or from any other place. The court has already ruled that these regulations are discriminatory and illegal.”

Haaretz reported that leaders of the Reform movement sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday calling on him to publicly distance himself from Azoulay’s remarks and questioning Azoulay’s ability to remain in the ministerial position.