Our Prayer Is Not a Crime

As the war with Iran intensifies, Israelis are once again running to bomb shelters. Soldiers are risking their lives. And Jewish communities around the world are watching with fear and uncertainty.

At a time when strong global Jewish connections are essential, the Israeli government is advancing legislation that puts them at risk. 

The Knesset is currently moving a bill forward that would ban and penalize non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall, the Kotel, Judaism’s holiest site. The bill, introduced by Knesset member Avi Maoz, would grant sole authority over the site to the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. It would enact criminal penalties of up to seven years in prison for Jews who pray in ways that do not conform to ultra-Orthodox standards.

The symbolism of this moment cannot be ignored. War has a way of clarifying priorities. When a nation is under threat, the instinct should be to strengthen unity, not deepen divisions.

Yet that is precisely what this legislation threatens to do.

If passed, this legislation would exclude the majority of the world's Jewish population from our holiest site, impacting life-cycle moments, conversions, and basic dignity.

To this I say: Our prayer is not a crime!

As leader of Women of Reform Judaism, the women’s affiliate of the Diaspora’s largest movement, I know how long and difficult the struggle for religious equality and egalitarian prayer has been for women and all non-Orthodox Jews. For decades, we led the fight to ensure that the Kotel is a place where Jews of all backgrounds can pray according to their practice and tradition.  

Yet, the Western Wall plaza remains governed by the Haredi rabbinate, which severely restricts our religious freedom. 
I have personally stood at the Kotel with Women of the Wall, joining women in song and prayer for Rosh Chodesh celebrations, welcoming a new month. I joined women wearing prayer shawls, holding Torah scrolls, and praying with joy and intention. I also witnessed the violence and hostility toward Jews like me, who were stopped by authorities for bringing in a symbolic Torah cover, let alone a scroll, ultimately reprimanded for openly practicing our tradition at our holiest site. 

Around the corner from the main plaza, one can find the Egalitarian Kotel (Ezrat Yisrael). Since a 2016 agreement went unfulfilled, we have sought to open this section of the Kotel for all. While one can pray there or read Torah with a mixed-gender group, the fulfillment of the compromise has stalled for years. It is currently impossible to get close to the Wall or touch its stones.

More recently, at the 39th World Zionist Congress in October 2025, delegates passed a resolution calling on the Israeli government to open public access to the site. Last month, the Israeli Supreme Court reaffirmed that the government must honor its commitment to an accessible place for egalitarian prayer. Instead of fulfilling that promise, the government is now considering a bill that moves in the opposite direction, codifying exclusion over expanding access. 

The Kotel now becomes a synecdoche: it is both the specific issue and the symbol of a much greater challenge. Who gets to define Judaism in the Jewish State? 

We learn from Jewish wisdom: “Rabbi Akiva said: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18) is a great principle, so that you must not say, ‘Since I have been put to shame, let my neighbor be put to shame, since I have been cursed, let my neighbor be cursed.’ Rabbi Tanhuma said: If you do so, know whom you put to shame, for ‘In the image of God did God make him’ (Gen. 1:27)” (Bereshit Rabbah 24:7). Indeed, the opposite is true. We must treat our neighbors with respect.

Israel is the homeland of the entire Jewish people. As missiles fall and tensions escalate, Jews everywhere share in the weight of the moment. And with violent antisemitic attacks at alarming levels, it is clear our enemies do not distinguish between those who identify as Reform, Conservative, or Haredi. 

When what we need now, more than ever, is support and solidarity, Israel should be strengthening the bonds that unite Jews across the world. 

We cannot allow this issue to divide us. All of us are part of the Jewish people – all of us must have equal access to our holy sites.