Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rick Jacobs And Reform Rabbis Beaten For Praying At Western Wall

A violent confrontation broke out at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Thursday, when a delegation of Reform movement leaders tried to hold a Torah-reading service at the site.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, was roughed up by security guards employed at the Western Wall, one of whom threatened to spray him with mace, according to eyewitnesses.

Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, the feminist prayer group, was accosted by an ultra-Orthodox man, who tried to pull a Torah scroll out of her hands.

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, was detained for questioning by police after the incident, which he described as “one of the most violent” he ever witnessed at the Jewish holy site. 

About 150 Reform Jews, both from Israel and overseas, arrived at the Western Wall in the morning to participate in a special prayer and Torah-reading service in honor of four new rabbis scheduled to be ordained by the movement at a special ceremony on Thursday evening. The delegation included the entire board of governors of the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, which ordains Reform rabbis in Israel. 

“Many of those holding Torah scrolls were hit and punched by the guards,” said Kariv. “I saw Rabbi Rick Jacobs taking the brunt of the blows.”

“While I was holding the Torah scroll, an ultra-Orthodox man came at me from behind and tried to grab it out of my hand,” Hoffman told Haaretz. “I shouted for help, and some of my colleagues came and were able to pull him off me.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

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.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.