Santiago — Thirty-three participants in a youth minyan in Temple Manuel, a synagogue in central Chile, held a rally on Saturday morning to protest their assigned room in the synagogue’s basement.
“It’s not fair,” said Jose Canusee, a spokesperson for the pre-bar-and-bat mitzvah group. “We have to hold our services in the basement, while the adults get to be upstairs in the main sanctuary. Why must we stay trapped underground just because we’re minors?”
Shul president Juana Bett reminded the protestors that synagogue rules strictly prohibit any members from praying upstairs until they are of age, which is 12 for girls and 13 for boys.
Bett added, “If you don’t like it, just wait for the next earthquake and form a breakaway minyan.”
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