Tel Aviv Municipality Bans Partitions, Cancels Major Selichot Event
The Union of Community Rabbis filed a petition with the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday against the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality. The petition stems from the municipality's refusal to permit a large Selichot (penitential prayers) service with partitions for gender separation at Tel Baruch beach on Saturday night.
The Union of Rabbis claims that although the municipality initially granted preliminary approval for the event, it later conditioned this approval on a ban of gender-separated prayer using physical dividers. The rabbis argue that this prohibition prevents the prayer service from being conducted according to Halakha (Jewish law) and infringes upon the religious freedom of the participants.
The event was scheduled for the upcoming Saturday night and was expected to feature prominent rabbis, including Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the city Rabbi Zvada Cohen, and neighborhood rabbis. The article notes that photos of Yom Kippur prayers in Tel Aviv are unrelated to this story. A response from the Tel Aviv Municipality was pending at the time of reporting.
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