The ‘Jewish jugglers’ at the Western Wall

I was arrested four times for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall and once for “smuggling” a Torah scroll into the women’s section for our services.

Today, as chair of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ), I again find myself speaking about the Western Wall – in Israel and around the world. The battle has always been about religious freedom and resistance to coercion. As executive director of Women of the Wall, I fought for women’s right to pray – to wear a tallit, read from the Torah, and raise our voices in sacred space.

In my current role, that struggle has not changed; it has widened. I am not only defending women’s prayer in the women’s section, but also protecting egalitarian prayer at the pluralistic plaza – the very space created through our long campaign. What began as a fight for women’s dignity at the wall is now part of a broader effort to safeguard religious pluralism in the Jewish state.

Those arrests were not acts of rebellion. They were acts of prayer. We wrapped ourselves in tallitot and read from the Torah simply to live fully as Jews. Our persistence helped transform the southern part of the Kotel – once only an archaeological site – into a living space for egalitarian worship.

The renewed attempt to criminalise certain forms of egalitarian prayer does not arise in isolation. It reflects the realities of fragile coalitions and electoral arithmetic, particularly in an election year. In Israel’s parliamentary system, small but disciplined parties can wield disproportionate influence. Sacred space becomes political currency. The Western Wall risks becoming a bargaining chip in negotiations aimed at preserving governing alliances.