Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Kosel before midnight on Motzei Shabbos to attend the erev Yom Kipper Selichos.
The Selichos began with HaTaras Nedarim.
The Selichos were recited by the Chazan Moshe Chavushah.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Have these selichot services always been mixed (men and women) davening?
Adjacent to the Western Wall, men and women do daven separately as you can see in the video. In the open area, seemingly non-religous Jews have gathered to listen, watch and participate in the Slichot prayers. Please judge these young people favorably. They travelled to Yerushalayim from all parts of Eretz Yisroel to experience the kedusha of the Kotel and take part in pre-Yom Kippur davening. Im Yirtzeh HaShem this pintele-yid experience will bring them closer.
The Kotel area is not mixed. There is no mechitza on the plaza behind the kotel, so anyone who chooses to stand there (as happens when there are overflow crowds) can’t control who stands next to him. I suppose in such situations they could put up a mechitza in the plaza, but there’d probably be some judge ready to ban it.