Western Wall conundrum

With regard to “Violence breaks out at Kotel days after PM vows Wall for all” (November 17), most US Jews who, on paper, make up the rank and file of the American Conservative and Reform movements have never come to Israel, and never will.

They have little or no interest in offering prayers at the Western Wall. They have little to no actual interest in the conversion issue. (These controversies are actually being driven by the movements’ professionals, whose livelihoods depend on the continuation of the organizations that employ them.)

They argue that the Western Wall belongs to all Jews, thereby giving them the right to pray there in the manner they choose. They are wrong. The Western Wall does not belong to all Jews; it belongs to the sovereign State of Israel. Governance processes within the State of Israel determine what may and what may not be done at this site.

Jews throughout the world may revere the Western Wall, but they cannot rightly claim ownership. I might revere the ark that contains the Torah scrolls in hundreds of Reform and Conservative Jewish houses of worship throughout the United States, but I, a Jew, cannot claim ownership, nor would it be appropriate for me to enter these houses of worship with a group of people and demand the right to organize an Orthodox prayer service.

Claiming that any and all Jewish groups have an intrinsic right to organize any form of prayer service at the Western Wall denies the sovereignty of the State of Israel. It appears that the American Jews who are involved in this controversy look upon the Jewish state more like their local Jewish community center rather than an independent nation with its own system of laws.

These laws are subject to change and reform, but to have any chance of bringing about a change, you have at least to be a citizen of the country and active in the political process. The American Jewish contribution to the State of Israel over many decades is appreciated, however it was never made, and should never be made, contingent upon any form of quid pro quo. ARDIE GELDMAN Efrat

Reader Cyril Atkins (“A little annoyed...” Letters, November 17) makes a case for ignoring the views of American Jews and Diaspora Jews. He is upset that a US Conservative leader felt that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on the Western Wall issue were not truthful and not respectful. He goes on to chastise Diaspora Jews for seeking to modify Israeli policies they don’t agree with.

I have always felt a bond with Jews, wherever they live and however they do or do not observe religious rituals. President Reuven Rivlin, addressing the Jewish Federations of North America last week in Los Angeles (“Rivlin does his best to placate US Jews at GA in LA,” November 15), expressed my feelings better than I can formulate them.

Let me quote just two of his comments: “The State of Israel was and will always be the home of every Jew: Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, secular, traditional, Ashkenazi, Sephardi.” “We thank you for this sense of family – for your unconditional support and love, for your consistent message that ‘we Jews stick together,’ that ‘all Jews are responsible for one another.’ In this we have a lot to learn from you – that is the truth.”

Well said, Mr. President. PHILIP BRIEFF Jerusalem