Hundreds of religious people came to the Kosel on Friday morning for Tefillas Shacharis of Rosh Chodesh Kislev to protest the planned provocation of Reform Labor MK Gilad Kariv and the Women of the Wall group.
Dozens of religious MKs were planning on physically blocking Kariv from repeating what he did last month – using his immunity to smuggle a Sefer Torah into the women’s section of the Kosel and reading it in a mixed group. However, President Yitzchak Herzog intervened on Thursday and sent a letter to Kariv and Blue and White MK Alon Tal, who also planned on attending, asking them not to come to the Kosel in order “to prevent conflict and unnecessary sinas chinam between elected public officials in front of the remnant of our Beis Hamikdash.”
Herzog also promised to do his best to meet the Reform groups’ demands for “equality” at the Kosel, although an egalitarian section of the Kosel designated for Reform groups is available but is almost always completely empty.
The religious MKs canceled their visit after Kariv and Tal agreed not to show up. It’s possible that the fact that all MKs have just spent two sleepless nights debating the passing of the budget in the Knesset plenum influenced their decision.
Hundreds of police officers were at the Kosel on Friday morning as the Women of the Wall showed up for their usual provocations and antics. They held a “protest” against the regulations at the Kosel by marching while holding empty Torah coverings to symbolize the “discrimination” against women at the site. Scuffles broke out between the WOW members, protesters and the police.
Women of the Wall director Anat Hoffman was removed from the area after she tried smuggling a Sefer Torah into the woman’s section, which is against the law.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
“to prevent conflict and unnecessary sinas chinam between elected public officials in front of the remnant of our Beis Hamikdash.”
This isn’t sinas chinam there’s a justifiable reason for it
what is sad that women are not satisfied to be women, let their son’s hold the torah be t he rabbi’s, women don’t have to strip all aspects of men from this planet…..STOP THIS FILTH__
What discrimination at the Kosel? Would Hoffman go and read the Torah and donn Tefilin in her temple? No! Only at the Kosel all of sudden she feels the urge to pretend being like a man!
What section would she read from the Torah? Korban of Rosh Chodesh? She doesn’t believe in Beis Hamikdosh!
Rights she dosn’t get up to daven at netzt, neither does she dress be’znius nor does she care about anything in the Torah. And suddenly she is a Frummie…
Why do these women want to read publicly from the Torah, if they don’t keep the Torah?
WOW’s protest is not religious; it’s purely feminist, where feminism does not apply.
Much as I disagree with these women on a very fundamental level, the neshomos that Hashem placed within them are pure (נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא) and I feel that those neshomos are screaming out to us, “Daven for us, daven to get us out of the klipos that have gotten hold of us.” We should be davening for Anat bas Varda and her friends to do teshuva shleima and for Hashem to show them the true light of Torah.