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

Chareidi bookstore owners have begun removing Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's "Peninei Halacha" Series from their shelves following his public support for allowing Reform Jews to pray in a designated section of the Kosel.

According to reports, store owners are packaging the books for return to the publisher. One retailer stated: "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."

Melamed, a Religious Zionist rabbi, published an op-ed in the newspaper Basheva arguing that Reform and Conservative Jews should be permitted to pray in the Ezras Yisrael section of the Kosel, with the Kotel Rabbi ensuring their needs are met, including provision of a sefer Torah. He wrote: "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."

The umbrella organization of the Reform Movement in Israel, known as the "Traditional Movement," Welcomed his stance. A spokesperson said: "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."