Religious Ministry Rules Against Women of the Wall

A new regulation enacted by Israel’s Ministry of Religious Affairs will essentially make criminal the activities of the “Women of the Wall,” overseas supporters of the Israeli women’s prayer group said Monday.

The new ruling forbids “the holding of a religious ceremony, which is not in accordance with the custom of a (holy) place, and which offends the sensibilities of the worshipers towards the place.”

The 1,000-member International Committee for the Women of the Kotel called the move “the epitome of arbitrariness and discrimination” and vowed to fight the regulation in court.

“This outrageous enactment is an affront to every Jewish woman as well as to Jewish men who care about the quality of Jewish religious life and equity in the administration of Israel’s holy places,” the group said in a statement.

The regulation was signed by both Zevulun Hammer, the minister of religious affairs, and Dan Meridor, the minister of justice.

On Jan. 1, the government submitted a copy of the new regulation to Israel’s Supreme Court.

The court is presently considering a petition by the Women of the Wall, asking the government for protection of their right to pray collectively at the Western Wall, wearing tallitot and carrying a Torah.

VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS WITH ORTHODOX

Attempts to do so in the past year have led to violent confrontations with some Orthodox worshipers. Even when the women have attempted to pray in a group in accordance with temporary court orders, meaning without wearing tallitot or with a Torah, they have been harassed.

A full court hearing of the case has now been postponed further in order to give the Women of the Wall time to consider the impact of the Ministry of Religion’s ruling and plan their next move.

The government had been ordered to submit a response to the Women of the Wall’s petition by Dec. 31. They had been given a seven-month delay in court proceedings last May, to attempt to reach an understanding with the women.

But the government “never made the slightest attempt to do this and instead used the time to enact the new ruling,” said Rivka Haut of the International Committee.

Haut, who is Orthodox, and the rest of the Committee contend that there is no halachic reason why women cannot pray as a group or read from the Torah at the Wall.

“It is extremely noteworthy,” the group said in their statement, “that the Ministry’s ruling, in fact, makes no halachic objection to the women’s practice. Instead, it cites vague and undefined ‘custom’ and unidentified ‘worshipers.’ “

They added that the ruling appears to reward the violent acts of those who have battled the women’s presence by “protecting the ‘sensibilities’ of those who have thrown metal chairs, punched, kicked and bitten Jewish women at prayer, while turning the women into criminals.”

Harriet Kurlander, director of the Commission for Women’s Equality for the American Jewish Congress, noted that although the Ministry of Religious Affairs has utilized its authority to protect holy places in the past, including the use of loudspeakers and the distribution of literature, this latest ruling “appears to be the first time they have addressed the content of worship.”