The Kotel Bill and the Betrayal of Zionism
Febraury 27. 2026 – י׳ אֲדָר תשפ”ו
The word “Zionism” did not emerge accidentally. It was coined in the late nineteenth century by the Austrian Jewish journalist and nationalist Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937), years before Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress. Birnbaum was searching for language that could capture the Jewish national awakening unfolding in Europe — a movement not merely of politics, but of identity, destiny, and return. He chose “Zionism” deliberately.
He did not call it simply “Jewish nationalism,” nor “Hebraism.” He reached back into the deepest reservoir of Jewish memory and selected “Zion.”
Why?
Because Zion is not just a geographic reference. It is a symbol layered with longing. Zion appears in the TaNaKh 152 times as a title of Jerusalem. In the Psalms, it appears as the mountain of God; in prophetic literature, it appears as the seat of justice; in medieval poetry, it appears as the object of yearning. For centuries in exile, Jews prayed toward Zion. They wept for Zion. They dreamed of Zion. The word carried spiritual, historical, and emotional resonance that transcended politics.
When Birnbaum adopted “Zionism” as the name of the Jewish national liberation movement, he was signaling something profound: Jewish sovereignty would not simply be about Land; it would be about restoring a civilizational center. Zion symbolized the place from which, in Isaiah’s words, “Ki MiTzion tetze Torah u’dvar Adonai miYerushalayim” — “For out of Zion shall go forth Torah.” It represented moral aspiration as much as political autonomy.
Zionism was meant to be the return of the Jewish people to our spiritual and national core. It was a response to exclusion and humiliation in Europe. It was the insistence that Jews would determine their own destiny in the place that defined their story. Zion symbolized unity across denominations, languages, and lands. It was a word capacious enough to hold the diversity of the Jewish people.
And yet this week, in a painful irony, the very symbols that gave Zionism its name, Zion, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, are becoming sources of alienation for the vast majority of world Jewry.
The proposed legislation advanced by MK Avi Maoz seeks to criminalize egalitarian prayer at the Kotel. Under such a law, Jews who gather in mixed-gender prayer, women who read from a Torah scroll, wear tallitot, kipot, and tefillin, or communities that pray according to more liberal practice could face criminal sanction in the Jewish state with punishment of up to seven years in prison.
If this isn’t enough, our great concern is that this is a test case, or a microcosm for what could happen in all of Israel, not just the Kotel. This is not a made-up fear. On Thursday, a full-page ad ran in the Yediot Ahronot daily with an image of red graffiti over the stones of the Kotel saying:
“THE KOTEL IS ONLY THE BEGINNING”
Through this piece of propaganda, the ad’s sponsors – Eretz HaKodesh – are attempting to claim that by implementing the Kotel framework (which was approved by the Netanyahu government), the Reform (and Conservative) Movement will then gradually dismantle a number of sacrosanct issues.
The fine print reads:
“The Kotel Framework: Masks are off – It’s Not About Prayer, It’s About the State Itself”
- Dismantling of the Chief Rabbinate’s hold on Marriage and Divorce in favor of civil marriage
- The erasure of the holiness of Shabbat:
(and my personal favorite) - Changing of the Identity of the State: Erasure of the Jewish Character
The Ad, of course, is a ridiculous farce, but it shows that even those who oppose us understand that we are working to strengthen the Jewish and Zionist character of the State, just not its Orthodox/Haredi identity.
Consider the symbolism of this moment. The movement named for Zion — for a mountain that represented the shared heart of the Jewish people — now risks using state power to exclude and even punish Jews at that very site.
Zion was chosen because it unified the Jewish people worldwide. It transcended factions and politics. It evoked a collective memory of pilgrimage and communal worship. The Temple Mount and its retaining walls were the focal point of Jewish longing precisely because they belonged to all Jews, regardless of custom or interpretation. Zion was never meant to be the exclusive property of only one stream of Judaism.
When world Jewry is told that their prayer is illegitimate at the Kotel, Zion ceases to function as a unifying symbol. When women are prevented from reading Torah at Judaism’s most sacred accessible site, the mountain of moral aspiration becomes a rock of coercion. When Diaspora Jews — who make up the majority of world Jewry — are effectively told that their religious expression has no standing at Zion’s stones, the name “Zionism” itself begins to feel hollow.
This is not merely a dispute about prayer arrangements. It is a crisis of meaning and a cudgel against Jews worldwide.
Zionism sought to end Jewish marginalization. It aimed to normalize Jewish life and restore dignity to the Jewish people. A law that criminalizes Jews for how they pray at the heart of Jewish sovereignty inverts that dream. It transforms Zion from a symbol of liberation into a site of exclusion and division.
For Diaspora Jews, this is not abstract. The vast majority of Jews worldwide identify with non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. Our synagogues are egalitarian. Our daughters chant from Torah. Our children grow up assuming that shared ritual leadership is the Jewish norm. Our rabbis and cantors — women and men — embody a Judaism that is deeply rooted and passionately committed.
If Zion — the very word chosen to represent our collective national rebirth after two millennia of dispersion and exile — becomes a place where our Judaism is deemed criminal, then the symbol that has unified us has been turned against its original purpose.
It is precisely because we are Zionists that we must say this clearly: legislation that narrows the definition of legitimate Jewish practice and threatens to criminalize Jewish prayer is anti-Zionist in spirit. It contradicts the inclusivity embedded in the name itself. It undermines the democratic commitments articulated in the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. It fractures Jewish peoplehood at the symbolic and geographic center that was meant to unify us.
Zion should draw Jews near, not push them away. It should inspire connection, not alienation. It should embody the prophetic vision of a moral and spiritual beacon to the world, not the enforcement of a single extremist and exclusionary religious authority.
Nathan Birnbaum chose “Zionism” because Zion symbolized the shared inheritance of a dispersed people returning home. If the mountain becomes a gatekeeping mechanism — if the Kotel becomes a courtroom rather than a gathering place for world Jewry — then the movement risks betraying the very name that defines it.
The global Jewish people must raise our collective voice on this pressing issue. Every ambassador, consul general, and other representative tasked with Israel-Diaspora relations must hear that WE WILL NOT tolerate this demonizing and dangerous legislation.
WE NEED YOU TO TAKE ACTION!
I call upon all of us to join our Movement and the global Jewish community to tell the Israeli government to stop promoting this dangerous and divisive bill. The Israeli government hosts representatives in the federal and local capitals of the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. Their responsibility includes maintaining the Israel-Diaspora relationship. Use this letter to voice your concern with your local consulate or embassy.
For examples please refer to these powerful speeches from MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv and MK Merav Ben Ari.
The task before us is not to abandon Zion, but to reclaim it. To insist that Zion once again symbolizes unity across diversity. To ensure that from Zion goes forth a Torah expansive enough to hold the full breadth of the Jewish people.
Zion was meant to gather us. It must not become the reason we are torn apart.
Shabbat Shalom!