It looks like a really great experience, and you can see it happen over and over again by going to the Kotel on any Monday or Thursday and just hang around and watch. You can't miss it. You will see these traditional or even secular boys getting these exciting ceremonies with their families, dancing their way down to the Kotel where they then have a traditional ceremony of prayer and Torah reading. It is great. It connects the youth and families to tradition and to the Kotel.
Jewish and Israeli sites (source: Kikar and JDN) are reporting that an Arab Israeli newspaper has reported on a complaint registered by the Islamic group the Al-Aqsa Institute, along with the Director of the Palestinian Committee for Jerusalem, who have said that these bar mitzva ceremonies are an attempt to Judaize the Kotel, and they are an expression of completing the Israeli occupation in Jerusalem, and it is damaging to the religious and historical symbols. As well, Israel has discovered new ways of Judaizing the holy Islamic symbols in Jerusalem.
Obviously Rav Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel and head of Keren Moreshet HaKotel, rejects the claim and criticizes them for politicizing such a beautiful activity that is so natural to every Jew.
I hope nobody will feel the need to pull the plug on this beautiful program so as not to upset the Arabs. They should stick their noses out of the Kotel. In response, the government should say that they have had enough of the Islamisizing of the Har HaBayit and knock them down a notch or two up there and remove some of the authority that has been given to them...
