Kotel clashes over women worshippers

For the first time ever, women have held communal prayers at the Western Wall with the state’s blessing.

Women gather on the first day of every Hebrew month for prayers at the Wall, but until now they have faced detention by police, who took the view that their gatherings contravened “local custom” for worship and were therefore illegal.

Last Friday morning, 400 women prayed without the objection of police, some of them wearing prayer shawls and tefillin. The turnaround by police came after the Jerusalem District Court ruled that there are no grounds for detaining female worshippers. Shortly before last Friday’s service, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein announced that he is waiving his right to challenge the Jerusalem court’s position via the Supreme Court.

Charedim reacted with fury, and turned out in force at the historic prayer meeting to protest. Some Charedi men threw projectiles at the female worshippers, including chairs, refuse and water bottles. Stones were thrown at one of the buses after the service.

Women of the Wall (WoW), the group that organises the monthly women’s service, released a statement saying that it is “proud to have gotten to this historic point, in which women are praying freely, defended by the police. Likewise, the group is greatly saddened by the use of violence by Charedi men.”

Diaspora groups condemned the violence. Senior figures from the Rabbinical Assembly, the international umbrella organisation for Conservative rabbis, declared themselves “shocked and horrified to see the desecration of a Jewish holy site by Jewish religious extremists”.

Some have claimed that violent incidents shouldn’t overshadow the point made by thousands of peaceful Charedim who went to the Wall last Friday to register opposition to WoW. A representative from Women for the Wall – an Orthodox group that supports traditional religious observance at the Kotel – said that their members “represent the vast majority of women who come to the Kotel on a regular basis to pray” – while WoW is a fringe group trying to impose “unilateral changes” on the Wall.

Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, said that the clashes at the Wall “dramatically reinforce the urgent need for a sustainable solution which will allow any Jew, group of Jews or Jewish community to pray at the Western Wall according to their own custom”.

Sharansky declared his optimism last week that his proposed solution will become a detailed plan within 10 months. He has proposed the establishment of a large section for egalitarian and women-only prayers along a part of the Western Wall currently classed as an archaeological site. The proposal has won the backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but is fiercely opposed by Charedi parties in the Knesset.

NATHAN JEFFAY