Prayer at the Western Wall: A Weekday-Only Activity?
The Western Wall was abnormally busy this afternoon. More people than on a usual Friday left their Sabbath preparations and braved the cool Jerusalem weather to head for the Wall. Why?
One reason is that today is a fast day, the Fast of Tevet, and people wanted to pray at the special afternoon service. But there’s another far more surprising explanation. Israel’s most revered Haredi rabbi, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, had declared that going to the Western Wall should be a weekday-only activity because when the site’s security cameras film you, you become a Sabbath transgressor.
The ruling appeared in the Haredi daily newspaper Yated Ne’eman. As this newspaper is spearheading the campaign declaring the Internet is treif, we cannot provide a link.
Elyashiv’s declaration has been met with raised eyebrows in the modern-Orthodox community. Yisrael Rozen, head of the Tzomet Institute that develops halachically-compliant technology, has been quoted saying that “whoever wants to prohibit the Western Wall cameras will have to order religious people to stay away from yeshivas, hotels, banquet halls and public areas, all of which use online security cameras.”
There could be an unintended beneficiary of this ruling. In July, the Forward reported about the problems facing women who wish to pray publicly at the Western Wall. If it will tomorrow be lacking followers of Elyashiv — some of the more hard-line elements of Israeli Jewry — maybe it’s a rare opportunity for some undisturbed prayer by the group Women of the Wall.
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
