The women of the Wall’s prayer service walked relatively quietly on the Western Wall on Monday morning, despite promises by radical religious-Zionist activists to oppose the group.
The group also faced other mild forms of harassment by other women praying in the women’s section, as well as similar activities by smaller groups of Orthodox children, which led a group of men to pray in solidarity with the women of the Wall. Was doing.
— Jeremy Sharon (@jeremysharon) August 9, 2021
— Jeremy Sharon (@jeremysharon) August 9, 2021
Public Security Minister Omar Bar Lev (Labour) promised in June to ensure that the women of the Wall would not face such harassment again.
During the Women of the Wall prayer service on Monday, women and young girls from the women’s section shouted incessantly at the group, especially as they sang.
And the Western Wall Heritage Foundation deployed loudspeaker systems in the men’s section for use in the men’s prayer service when the women of the wall service began, apparently in an effort to drown in their singing.
A small group of boys – both from the ultra-Orthodox and radical religious-Zionist community – mocked and insulted the small group of men praying behind the women’s square at the site in solidarity with the group.
Rabbi Gilead Kariv at the Western Wall, August 9, 2021. (Photographer: Mark Israel Salem/Jerusalem Post)Rosh Chodesh Elul Prayer with the Women of the Western Wall. Following the breakdown of arrangements at the Tammuz and the violent conduct at Tisha Baw, the police and worshipers are making proper assessments for their safety. pic.twitter.com/gIoliQA7bV— Gilead Closer (@karivegilead) August 9, 2021
Among the men present were Labor MK Gilad Kariv, another Reform rabbi, as well as Yezhar Hess, vice president of the World Zionist Organization and former director of the Masorti Movement in Israel.
A group calling itself the Joint Committee for the Preservation of the Sanctity of the Western Wall announced on Sunday that “thousands of worshipers” would accompany the white chief rabbi to the holy site on Monday to “protect the sanctity of the Western Wall”. Samuel Eliyahu. Ultimately, the number of women protesting against the wall was small.
Karive said the prayer arrangements and security provisions for the women of the wall and the men’s service with them were better and more organized than in previous months.
Rabbi Gilead Kariv at the Western Wall, August 9, 2021. (Photographer: Mark Israel Salem/Jerusalem Post)“If [public security] Ministers and police want it, then everything is under control and everything is calm,” said MK Jerusalem Post.
Hayes said that unlike many prayer services at the start of the new Hebrew month, which have been hit by severe protests, Monday was “almost uplifting”, adding that the voices of the women of the Wall group singing could be heard from afar.
“Although there are some who try to ruthlessly harass them in the women’s section, but much less than in other months, and the public plaza where we [men] The prayer was very quiet,” Hayes said.