Women of the Wall stage protest
JERUSALEM -— About 200 members of the Women of the Wall organisation took part in the Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Kotel on December 18 and to protest the recent arrest of a fellow member at the site.
Ultra-Orthodox worshipers shouted abusive slogans at the women when they were seen putting on tephilin and prayer shawls and carrying Torah scrolls.
In mainstream Orthodox practice women are not permitted to wear tephilin or prayer shawls and additionally read publicly from a Torah scroll. This certainly holds true at the Kotel.
The Women of the Wall organisation said that the group’s actions were not intended as a provocation, but rather a protest at the government’s discrimination against women.
Last month, police arrested a woman, Nofat Frankel, who was praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, due to the fact that she was wrapped in a prayer shawl at the site. This was seen to be very provocative to both Orthodox men and women
Police said they arrested the women following a High Court ruling, which states that the public visiting the Western Wall is obligated to dress in accordance with the site’s dress code.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz had said the act was a provocation meant to turn the wall into a fighting ground.
“We must distance politics and disagreement from this sacred place,” Rabinowitz said.
ISRANET
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