Women Smuggle Torah Scroll Into Western Wall Prayer Service
Women of the Wall gathered at the Kotel in May. Image by Getty Images
Hundreds of women joined Women of the Wall for the group’s monthly Rosh Chodesh service, which included a Torah scroll smuggled in to the women’s section of the Western Wall.
Among the some 300 women who assembled for the service on Thursday morning to mark the new Hebrew month of Iyar were those from nine pre-army leadership training programs from across the religious spectrum, the group said in a statement.
The women prayed enclosed in metal security barriers at the side and back of the women’s section manned by police and Western Wall security.
Some Orthodox women protested the service with signs and by making noise with sticks to drown out the prayers and Torah reading.
The group has held its monthly Rosh Chodesh prayer for the new Hebrew month in the women’s section for more than 25 years.
In January, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of women being allowed to read from the Torah in the women’s section at the Western Wall, and put a halt to security searches of the women for items such as Torah scrolls, tallitot and tefillin.
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