In the award-winning Israeli film The Women’s Balcony (2016), a charismatic rabbi, Rav Dovid (Aviv Alush), comes to rebuild a collapsed synagogue. However, Rav Dovid also uses his influence to restrict the ability of the women to participate in religious life the way they did before, most notably by removing the titular women’s balcony. In assuming authority, he shatters the community from the inside. What would happen if the government granted someone like Rav Dovid complete authority over the Kotel?

It seems they might be. On February 25th, the Knesset voted 56-47 in favor of a preliminary bill that would grant the Chief Rabbinate complete authority over all parts of the Kotel (the Western Wall). This includes the smaller, separate section by Robinson’s Arch that has been dedicated to egalitarian Jewish worship since a 2000 High Court case—a case that followed decades of negotiations and court battles. In January 2016, the Israeli government passed the Western Wall Agreement in a 15-5 vote, formally granting space, recognition, and authority to non-Orthodox Jews at the southern section of the Kotel. This victory for Jewish pluralism was swiftly shot down, however, when Prime Minister Netanyahu froze the agreement under pressure from Ultra-Orthodox coalition partners a little over a year........

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