 | I hadn't planned to write a D'var Torah this week. Rather than write a new D'var Torah this week, I planned to repost last year's teaching about the Golden Calf in civil society. But developments in Israel compel me to speak – clearly and bluntly – to affirm Judaism's core values of pluralism and gender equality. At stake are Israel's identity and the Western Wall's spirituality itself, lest each risk becoming just another Golden Calf. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Ki Tisa 5786 (2026)
Note: These remarks concern the Western Wall and pending legislation that would impact pluralism and gender equality. While New York's Rules Governing Judicial Conduct generally ban me from public comment that might cause my impartiality reasonably to be questioned, New York's Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics does allow me to "write on Israel-related issues that are not highly politicized and controversial in the United States." My subject is one of those issues.
I did not plan to write a new D'var Torah for this week.
My teaching last year for this Torah portion, about the Golden Calf ("Unbend the Knee"), still seemed spot-on for this moment when secular society seems to revel in its Golden Calves. Whatever else I imagined writing felt like a distraction.
Then Israel's Knesset (Parliament) narrowly gave preliminary approval to legislation that would ban women from reading Torah or mixing with men at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and the latest Israel-Iran round has begun.
Last month, the Court ordered the government, after years of stonewalling (pun intended), to create an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall – equivalent to the existing divided-gender plaza. That way, everyone may gather and pray without gender separation or restriction on female Jewish observances.
The Western Wall legislation defies Israel's High Court of Justice.
The matter is not yet decided. A majority of Israelis do not want it. A majority of Jews around the world do not want it. And even if the Knesset does give it final approval, the measure almost surely would be challenged in court.
My rabbinic colleagues, including many in Orthodoxy, are speaking out. Ordinarily I do not make public comment on such matters because of my day-job ethics, but on this matter I can and must speak.
Ki Tisa 5786 (2026)
Note: These remarks concern the Western Wall and pending legislation that would impact pluralism and gender equality. While New York's Rules Governing Judicial Conduct generally ban me from public comment that might cause my impartiality reasonably to be questioned, New York's Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics does allow me to "write on Israel-related issues that are not highly politicized and controversial in the United States." My subject is one of those issues.
I did not plan to write a new D'var Torah for this week.
My teaching last year for this Torah portion, about the Golden Calf ("Unbend the Knee"), still seemed spot-on for this moment when secular society seems to revel in its Golden Calves. Whatever else I imagined writing felt like a distraction.
Then Israel's Knesset (Parliament) narrowly gave preliminary approval to legislation that would ban women from reading Torah or mixing with men at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and the latest Israel-Iran round has begun.
Last month, the Court ordered the government, after years of stonewalling (pun intended), to create an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall – equivalent to the existing divided-gender plaza. That way, everyone may gather and pray without gender separation or restriction on female Jewish observances.
The Western Wall legislation defies Israel's High Court of Justice.
The matter is not yet decided. A majority of Israelis do not want it. A majority of Jews around the world do not want it. And even if the Knesset does give it final approval, the measure almost surely would be challenged in court.
My rabbinic colleagues, including many in Orthodoxy, are speaking out. Ordinarily I do not make public comment on such matters because of my day-job ethics, but on this matter I can and must speak.
* * *
I want to share with you what I think this moment is about and what's at stake.
If this measure becomes law and is enforced with "facts on the ground," then the Western Wall and the Government of Israel both risk becoming a Golden Calf.
The Golden Calf is Judaism's enduring symbol of lawlessness and faithlessness. If Judaism has an "original sin," the Golden Calf is it. Newly freed from bondage, our spiritual ancestors forced the crafting of the Golden Calf because they were terrified, blinded by fear, and unsure how to be truly free in a scary world. Borne of their fear and blindness, the Golden Calf defied God and violated the Ten Commandments nearly from the start.
Fast forward 3,500 years. Some Israeli politicians are terrified and unsure how to be truly free in today's scary world.
But let us be clear: nothing about the current Western Wall legislation is required by Jewish law. It is a gratuitous power grab, a product of fear and blindness no less than the Golden Calf itself.
Consider with me the ideal State of Israel that magnetizes your love, pride and longing. If you're like me, that Israel is a pluralist, rights-based secular democracy based on the rule of law, with 3,500 years of spirituality coursing through ancient veins. She cherishes her dazzling diversity of race, faith, creed, ethnicity, language, sexual identity, nationality and culture. She diligently ensures the sanctity and status quo of the holy sites of all four major world faiths there – Bahá'i, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. She is second to none in protecting her religious minorities. She is a global beacon of ethics and social innovation. She triumphs against tremendous odds. And she is a spiritual beacon for Jews worldwide.
Israel is all of that, though not perfectly. No nation perfectly embodies her core principles – including our own. For Israel, we feel it more because of our love, pride and longing.
At stake in the Western Wall measure is all of it – the State of Israel's balance of powers and rule of law, her legal and spiritual commitment to equality and pluralism, and her rightful place in the love and imagination of Jews and people of goodwill worldwide.
Also at stake is Israel's status as a beacon for all Jews however described – Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Pluralist, "Just Jewish," "Spiritual But Not Religious," and all the rest. Together we are to be one people. The Western Wall must stand for that.
If this measure becomes law and is enforced with "facts on the ground," then the Western Wall and the Government of Israel both risk becoming a Golden Calf.
The Golden Calf is Judaism's enduring symbol of lawlessness and faithlessness. If Judaism has an "original sin," the Golden Calf is it. Newly freed from bondage, our spiritual ancestors forced the crafting of the Golden Calf because they were terrified, blinded by fear, and unsure how to be truly free in a scary world. Borne of their fear and blindness, the Golden Calf defied God and violated the Ten Commandments nearly from the start.
Fast forward 3,500 years. Some Israeli politicians are terrified and unsure how to be truly free in today's scary world.
But let us be clear: nothing about the current Western Wall legislation is required by Jewish law. It is a gratuitous power grab, a product of fear and blindness no less than the Golden Calf itself.
Consider with me the ideal State of Israel that magnetizes your love, pride and longing. If you're like me, that Israel is a pluralist, rights-based secular democracy based on the rule of law, with 3,500 years of spirituality coursing through ancient veins. She cherishes her dazzling diversity of race, faith, creed, ethnicity, language, sexual identity, nationality and culture. She diligently ensures the sanctity and status quo of the holy sites of all four major world faiths there – Bahá'i, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. She is second to none in protecting her religious minorities. She is a global beacon of ethics and social innovation. She triumphs against tremendous odds. And she is a spiritual beacon for Jews worldwide.
Israel is all of that, though not perfectly. No nation perfectly embodies her core principles – including our own. For Israel, we feel it more because of our love, pride and longing.
At stake in the Western Wall measure is all of it – the State of Israel's balance of powers and rule of law, her legal and spiritual commitment to equality and pluralism, and her rightful place in the love and imagination of Jews and people of goodwill worldwide.
Also at stake is Israel's status as a beacon for all Jews however described – Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Pluralist, "Just Jewish," "Spiritual But Not Religious," and all the rest. Together we are to be one people. The Western Wall must stand for that.
* * *
A Little History for Context
What we call the Western Wall today is not any part of the First or Second Temples. Babylonian invaders destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE; Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE.
The Western Wall is an architectural retaining wall of Har HaBayit (הַר הַבַּיִת), Hebrew for the Temple Mount, in Arabic Al-Haram al-Sharif (الحَرَم الشَّرِيف) – an elevated place raised even higher by massive construction, thus needing a retaining wall. Above it is where the Temple once stood.
As such, the Western Wall is the above-ground location closest to the ancient Temples, which makes it Judaism's holiest site even though the Western Wall never actually formed part of any Jewish house of worship.
What we call the Western Wall today is not any part of the First or Second Temples. Babylonian invaders destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE; Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE.
The Western Wall is an architectural retaining wall of Har HaBayit (הַר הַבַּיִת), Hebrew for the Temple Mount, in Arabic Al-Haram al-Sharif (الحَرَم الشَّرِيف) – an elevated place raised even higher by massive construction, thus needing a retaining wall. Above it is where the Temple once stood.
As such, the Western Wall is the above-ground location closest to the ancient Temples, which makes it Judaism's holiest site even though the Western Wall never actually formed part of any Jewish house of worship.
During nearly 2,000 years of occupation by Rome, Byzantia, the Caliphate, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire, the Western Wall was mostly a backwater of history. After the State of Israel reclaimed Jerusalem in 1967, Israel created the Western Wall plaza we know today.
Only in 1968 did Orthodox powers ban mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall. They did so on the theory that the Western Wall had become an Orthodox synagogue.
Many disputed that move, including in Orthodoxy, resulting in decades of lawsuits. By 2005, there was a compromise that allows mixed-gender gatherings at Robinson's Arch, a poignant location adjacent to the Western Wall plaza.
The High Court of Justice ordered the government, after 20 years of stonewalling (pun intended), to build at Robinson's Arch the same kind of public plaza that today fronts the Western Wall. But instead of expanding the Robinson's Arch site, the Western Wall legislation would deconstruct it and criminalize mixed-gender observances anywhere onsite.
The Western Wall's Spiritual Essence is Below Ground
For all the drama unfolding above ground, the Western Wall's spiritual essence lies literally below ground.
On the Western Wall Tunnel Tour, literally under the Western Wall, one can experience why. There, archeologists found and preserved the First Temple's original monolith stones (c. 850 BCE), which can be touched and visited on ancient byways now underground but accessible to all. There was the First Temple's approach, on byways King Solomon himself walked.
I've been there. It's awesome in every way.
And there, at the underground spot closest to where archeologists believe the Temple's Holy of Holies was placed, women and men (but mainly women) gather in reverence, constantly reciting Psalms and praying by candlelight.
Take that in. Below ground, women and men together keep the faith literally underneath the Western Wall, at the location closest to the original Holy of Holies. Above ground there is drama: below ground, there is equality and shared awe.
That's the absurdity of the legislation now roiling Israeli society and global Jewry. The most poignant spiritual action isn't above ground at the Western Wall plaza built in 1968: drama unfolds there given its public visibility and corresponding political symbolism. The most poigiant and perhaps most spiritually real action is below – and in hearts and souls, and in the yearning of a people still trying to find our way amidst fear and blindness, still learning after 3,500 years how to be truly free together.
I Make Two Promises
My first promise is that if our community visits Israel, I will take us to that sacred place – both above ground and underground, where candlelit Psalms bathe the ancient site in light and love. You can experience it for yourself, and I hope we'll get to go together.
My second promise: if the Western Wall measure becomes law and is enforced with "facts on the ground," I personally will not pray at the Western Wall until the law is repealed.
After all, how can I pray there if women are denied the same rights I have?
If all cannot stand at the Western Wall together, in our full and equal dignity – as Jews, people of spirit and citizens of the world – then the Western Wall would become a mere Golden Calf, a mere idol to faithlessness and lawlessness, defying the Basic Law of Israel and the orders of the High Court of Israel.
So teaches my Judaism, and my love of the State of Israel and her core values, and the principles for which the Western Wall has stood for thousands of years.
The State of Israel is many things including a nation that, like all nations, has her challenges. All governments can lose their way, and all governments can find their way back. I hope and pray that this Israeli government heeds the outcry of world Jewry and comes to its senses.
Meanwhile, I stand with all of us. I hope you do, too.
Only in 1968 did Orthodox powers ban mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall. They did so on the theory that the Western Wall had become an Orthodox synagogue.
Many disputed that move, including in Orthodoxy, resulting in decades of lawsuits. By 2005, there was a compromise that allows mixed-gender gatherings at Robinson's Arch, a poignant location adjacent to the Western Wall plaza.
The High Court of Justice ordered the government, after 20 years of stonewalling (pun intended), to build at Robinson's Arch the same kind of public plaza that today fronts the Western Wall. But instead of expanding the Robinson's Arch site, the Western Wall legislation would deconstruct it and criminalize mixed-gender observances anywhere onsite.
The Western Wall's Spiritual Essence is Below Ground
For all the drama unfolding above ground, the Western Wall's spiritual essence lies literally below ground.
On the Western Wall Tunnel Tour, literally under the Western Wall, one can experience why. There, archeologists found and preserved the First Temple's original monolith stones (c. 850 BCE), which can be touched and visited on ancient byways now underground but accessible to all. There was the First Temple's approach, on byways King Solomon himself walked.
I've been there. It's awesome in every way.
And there, at the underground spot closest to where archeologists believe the Temple's Holy of Holies was placed, women and men (but mainly women) gather in reverence, constantly reciting Psalms and praying by candlelight.
Take that in. Below ground, women and men together keep the faith literally underneath the Western Wall, at the location closest to the original Holy of Holies. Above ground there is drama: below ground, there is equality and shared awe.
That's the absurdity of the legislation now roiling Israeli society and global Jewry. The most poignant spiritual action isn't above ground at the Western Wall plaza built in 1968: drama unfolds there given its public visibility and corresponding political symbolism. The most poigiant and perhaps most spiritually real action is below – and in hearts and souls, and in the yearning of a people still trying to find our way amidst fear and blindness, still learning after 3,500 years how to be truly free together.
I Make Two Promises
My first promise is that if our community visits Israel, I will take us to that sacred place – both above ground and underground, where candlelit Psalms bathe the ancient site in light and love. You can experience it for yourself, and I hope we'll get to go together.
My second promise: if the Western Wall measure becomes law and is enforced with "facts on the ground," I personally will not pray at the Western Wall until the law is repealed.
After all, how can I pray there if women are denied the same rights I have?
If all cannot stand at the Western Wall together, in our full and equal dignity – as Jews, people of spirit and citizens of the world – then the Western Wall would become a mere Golden Calf, a mere idol to faithlessness and lawlessness, defying the Basic Law of Israel and the orders of the High Court of Israel.
So teaches my Judaism, and my love of the State of Israel and her core values, and the principles for which the Western Wall has stood for thousands of years.
The State of Israel is many things including a nation that, like all nations, has her challenges. All governments can lose their way, and all governments can find their way back. I hope and pray that this Israeli government heeds the outcry of world Jewry and comes to its senses.
Meanwhile, I stand with all of us. I hope you do, too.
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