A woman who put on a talis at the Kosel Plaza was arrested on Thursday morning, 1 Tammuz 5772 as she tried making her way to the ezras noshim a the Kosel. The woman in question is affiliated with the Women of the Wall organization that continues its fight for equality at the holy site as they view it, albeit not necessarily in line with halacha.

Seeking to show solidarity with her, other woman accompanied her to the nearby police station where they began davening and singing while she was detained.

Police explained that the presence of the women constituted and illegal gathering, after which they left.

The Women of the Kosel organization released a message to the media following the latest arrest, explaining “the Kosel is not a chareidi shul and that there are 70 faces to the torah and therefore, one may express one’s Judaism in a different way at the holy site”.

Kosel rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz decried the women’s actions, comparing them to this week’s parsha, Korach, a parsha that highlights dispute, and they are trying to do the same.

The women stated that they are tired of being persecuted by Rabbi Rabinowitz who they feel believes he has the right to enforce his view of how the Kosel should be, unwilling to permit others to do their thing.

Women of the Kosel head Esti Sachs insists their struggle has been ongoing for decades and their actions are not “provocative” explaining as they were leaving one of the women permitted her talis to go down her back as men wear them. They are permitted to wear them around their necks like scarves, but they may not wear a talis as is customary for a man, as per the court ruling. Sachs adds “We are talking about 11 hours a year, every rosh chodesh when we meet to daven at 7am at Robinson’s Arch and read from a torah, in line with the court’s ruling”.

“They do everything to make things more difficult. First we brought the torah from home where it is kept and they no longer permit this. Then we brought siddurim and this is no longer permitted. They simply do whatever they can to harass us even though we comply with the court’s ruling… We want to daven at the wall, a place holy to us no less than the rav of the Kosel, an hour a month, and there is no justification for Rabinowitz’s objections and actions”.

The High Court ruling does not permit them to violate the customs of the holy site which are in line with halacha. The court ruled they may gather at Robinson’s Arch and a talis may be worn around one’s next like a scarf, and not draped over one’s back as men do.

Ms. Sachs continued to explain this is the reality today, one of “religious coercion at the Kosel, segregated buses and in many other areas of Israeli life. The rabbi thinks the Kosel is his and it must be Orthodox as he likes but in reality, it belongs to us all, all of Am Yisrael”.

In response, Rabbi Rabinowitz explains “yes, the Kosel belongs to all of us, all Jews, Jews with every hashkafa and walk of life. I always compare it to a father whose children spread out around the world, each with their own minhag, but when they come home and visit, they honor the home, the minhagim that existed in their parent’s home. This is the same at the Kosel, and when we gather everyone, we must adhere to the minhagim of our Father, and even more important regarding this case, they went to the High Court twice. The state has spent millions to accommodate them [with Robinson’s Arch] and the bottom line, the court ruled, not me, and their actions are simply provocative, nothing less”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)