Women’s Western Wall Prayer Session Attacked by Ultra-Orthodox Protesters
Image by Getty Images
A women’s prayer service at the Western Wall was disturbed by protesting haredi Orthodox men and women.
The Original Women of the Wall group held morning services on Monday using a small Torah scroll that they smuggled in for the service. The more than 20 women were wearing prayer shawls and phylacteries.
According to a statement issued by the group, a breakaway from the Women of the Wall, the prayers were “brutally disturbed” by several haredi Orthodox men and women.
“Over twenty women participated in this morning’s prayer as the group and other worshippers prayed uneventfully at the Kotel until a number of haredi women began screaming and attempting to push into the group, assaulting members of the group by violent shoving and grabbing arms. Shouting and cursing, the attackers did not relent their assault until police arrived to protect the women’s prayer group,” according to the statement.
The police removed the protesters and remained in the area until the prayer service ended.
The Original Women of the Wall reject the recent compromise for an egalitarian prayer plaza, and have said they will not leave the women’s section of the Western Wall once it is ready. It has begun to have services at the Western Wall on days other than Rosh Chodesh, as the Women of the Wall traditionally has done for more than 25 years.
A 2013 Supreme Court ruling acknowledged the women’s right to pray at the Western Wall according to their beliefs, claiming it does not violate what has come to be known as “local custom.”
Regulations at the site set by the office have allowed women to wear prayer shawls and kippahs, but prevented them from using a Torah scroll in their section.
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
