Women of the Wall Interrupt Rosh Chodesh Prayers at the Western Wall

Women of the Wall arrived at the Western Wall plaza on Sunday morning to hold a Reform-style prayer quorum, drawing complaints of disruptive behavior toward other worshippers. The article says the group came for its monthly protest prayer during the Rosh Chodesh services at Judaism’s holiest accessible site.

At the same time, several other prayer services were taking place in the plaza, including a festive musical minyan with singing and melodies. The site was crowded throughout the morning with worshippers attending Rosh Chodesh prayers, organized groups, families, and tourists.

The report also notes that about a month earlier, hundreds of worshippers, including rabbis, yeshiva students, and families, took part in a celebratory Jerusalem Day prayer in the Western Wall’s southern plaza. That service was held in a mood of gratitude for the city’s liberation, at a location where, the article says, the High Court of Justice is trying to force the creation of a Reform prayer area.

Participants brought a partition and prayed according to Orthodox practice in an effort to strengthen the site’s traditional Jewish character. They said holding the prayer specifically in the southern plaza was meant to underline the struggle over the Wall’s identity and sanctity. One participant said, “Jerusalem Day is the day when the people of Israel return to their heart,” and added that Israel would not allow the remains of the Temple to become “an experiment field for streams alien to Judaism.”