2 - Women for the Temple and the (In)Divisibility of Temple Mount

Summary

Since 2000 the organization Women for the Temple has worked to paint the struggle with the Palestinians over Temple Mount in softer and less threatening colors. Instead of the fanatics of the Jewish Underground, who wanted to blow up the Dome of the Rock, these women say they want to ascend to the Mount ostensibly in the name of religious freedom, openness, and closeness to the divine. They say that they do not wish to provoke Muslims or the Israeli police but simply to mark their wedding day, their daughter’s bat mitzvah, or for personal prayer. They present their ascent as a negotiation between the unique experience of the holy and the mundane routine of life and weekly visits. The women speak of closeness, intimacy, and desire toward the holy that women are uniquely positioned to feel. In this way, they strive to domesticate the space as well as the debate around it, packaging it as less intimidating and explosive to the general Israeli public. In the course of this process, they also reconfigure the space from one that is divided and separate in the Israeli imagination to one that is united and ultimately indivisible.