Modern Orthodox Girls To Join Haredi Protest of Women of the Wall
Image by getty images
Girls affiliated with the Modern Orthodox Bnei Akiva movement reportedly will join haredi Orthodox girls at the Western Wall for a prayer service against Women of the Wall.
According to the Israeli religious news website Kipa.co.il, Bnei Akiva has instructed its affiliated girls’ schools to send their students to join the haredi girls for their service on Monday as Women of the Wall holds its monthly service at the Western Wall.
Women of the Wall at the service will be marking its 25th anniversary. The group says some 700 women from throughout Israel will be participating.
In recent months, leading haredi rabbis and activists have mobilized thousands of haredi girls to pray at the wall during Women of the Wall’s services, at times effectively blocking the group from reaching the wall.
It would be the first time that Modern Orthodox schools are sending students to participate in the service by the haredi girls.
Women of the Wall spokesperson Shira Pruce told JTA that the move has offended several of her group’s members who are affiliated with Bnei Akiva.
“Many women are outraged that an organization that represents them would oppose Women of the Wall,” Pruce said. “They’re not saying the organization should take a side at all, but it’s offensive to many that they would teach their children to protest a women’s prayer at the Kotel.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
