American Jews plan campaign to change Israeli minds about Judaism’s diversity

American Jewish leaders, frustrated by a recent Israeli government decision to abandon an agreement to create a pluralistic, state-funded prayer space at the Western Wall, plan to plead their case directly to the Israeli public.

“We want the Israeli Jewish community to understand why we are upset,” said Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America. “This isn’t a Reform or Conservative issue, it’s a Jewish issue, a unity issue.”

Seventeen months after the Israeli cabinet approved the measures, the government said that it will build the prayer space but without the promised structural changes that would give it equal standing with the existing Orthodox prayer spaces. It will also proceed without the input of non-Orthodox Jews, who were previously promised a central role in maintaining the site.