Egalitarian Prayer Supporters Barred From Western Wall
(JTA) — Security guards at the Western Wall prevented a group of men and women promoting gender-egalitarian prayer for accessing the holy site’s main plaza with a Torah scroll.
In the incident Friday, about 300 people were barred from entering the main plaza of the Western Wall while holding a Torah scroll, according to Women of the Wall, a group which is fighting for the lifting of regulations barring women from introducing Torah scroll to the site, singing aloud, wearing kippahs or praying with men.
At the end of their prayer at the women’s section, Women of the Wall joined their supporters, who waited with the Torah scroll at the egalitarian prayer section at the southern entrance to the plaza.
One of the supporters, a Six Day War veteran named Micha Eshet, 70, was shoved to the ground by Orthodox protesters while holding the scroll, according to Perl. The Women of the Wall group and their supporters encountered shouts, hisses and shrieks by Orthodox worshipers, she said.
The supporters of women of the Wall who showed up at the site Friday were protesting the government’s refusal to apply a compromise reached on prayer there between the authorities and promoters of egalitarian prayer.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.