Chareidi Sefarim Stores Boycott Sefarim of Eliezer Melamed Following His Support For Reform Prayer Section At Kosel

Following Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's endorsement of a reform prayer section at the Kosel, Chareidi store owners have begun removing his works from their shelves. Multiple stores have started packaging up copies of Rabbi Melamed's "Peninei Halacha" Series for return to the publisher, according to reports.

One store owner stated that "All of the sefarim of the 'Reform Rabbi', Eliezer Melamed are being packed up from Chareidi stores and sent back. That's it. It's the end of an era. We won't sell his books any longer. Books of Reform Rabbis won't make their way into the Chareidi communities."

The Reform Movement's Israeli umbrella organization, which identifies itself as the "Traditional Movement," Welcomed Melamed's position. A statement from the group noted that "Rabbi Melamed is leading a brave position with everything connected to building a dialogue between the different streams of Judaism. This is something that we value greatly, especially after Tisha B'Av. Now is the time to tear down the great fences that divide us, to build discourse, and to find solutions together so that we may all be able to live here one alongside the other in serenity."

In an op-ed published in Basheva newspaper, Rabbi Melamed, a Religious Zionist rabbi, argued that Reform and Conservative Jews should have access to the Ezras Yisrael section of the Kosel for prayer, with full accommodations including a Torah scroll. He wrote that "Should there be a suspicion that other Jews will take over the Ezras Yisrael at the time when these communities want to daven there, the Rav of the Kosel will need to make them move to other locations, so as to allow for all Jews who wish to pray there feel like they are the beloved children of Hashem."