On the morning of December 1, 1988, when a multi-denominational group of approximately seventy women approached Jerusalem’s Kotel (Western Wall) with a Torah scroll to conduct a halakhic (according to Jewish law) women’s prayer service. As no provisions for Torah reading existed in the women’s section of the Kotel, we brought a sefer Torah (Torah scroll). We stood together and prayed out loud; a number of us wore tallits (prayer shawls).

Suddenly many women and men on the other side of the mechitzah (barrier separating men and women) begane to scream, curse and even threaten us. Despite these events, we managed to complete our Torah reading.

On this tumultuous day, we can never forget that the then Kotel Administrator, Rabbi Yehuda Gertz, z”l, allowed us to continue our service stating that, “they are not violating Halakhah.”

Since that day, we struggle to relive our service; to once again pray together at that holy site, to wear our tallits, and bring a Torah Scroll to the women’s section. For over twenty years we have endured violence, raised funds, mobilized support from the international community, and spent many years in court fighting for this basic right as Jewish woman.

Women Of the Wall continues to battle for women’s rights at the Kotel as well as in Israeli society. Our fight is at the core of this issue and our voice will always be heard.

To Join our monthly Rosh Hodesh Services at the Kotel click here

Make a Difference and Take a Stand

Take action with our Legal and Education Fund

A legal chronology of Women of the Wall

December 1988

First International Jewish Feminist Conference held in Jerusalem. One hundred Jewish women gather for a prayer service and Torah reading at the Kotel. Service is disrupted by verbal and physical assaults from some ultra-Orthodox men and women at the site.

January 1989

A group of Jerusalem women continue regular prayer services at the Kotel. Violent attacks from ultra-Orthodox opponents continue. Police refuse to provide protection.

March 1989

After prayers at the Wall end with police using tear gas to contain harassment, four women submit a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, asking for an order to allow women’s prayers and Torah reading to continue.

May 1989

Israel’s Supreme Court hears the case of Women of the Wall for the first time. The state is given six months to respond to the petition. The Court issues a temporary injunction barring women from praying at the Kotel with Torah and tallit.

June 1989

Women continue to pray at the Kotel without Torah or tallit. Ultra-Orthodox opponents now demand that we not pray aloud because “kol b’isha erva” (the voice of woman is lewd).

August 1989

Following further violence and harassment by female security guards hired by the Administrator of the Kotel, Women of the Wall return to court to request a speedier response from the state and protection of the right to pray out loud. Both requests are denied.

December 1989

Newly formed International Committee for Women of the Wall (ICWOW) donates a Torah Scroll to the Israeli Women of the Wall, and travels to Israel for a dedication ceremony. The ceremony is not held at the Laromme Hotel as planned, the Jerusalem Rabbinate threatens to revoke the hotel’s kashrut license if the ceremony is held on their premises.

On the 31st, a new regulation is promulgated by the Ministry of Religion and the Ministry of Justice to “prohibit any religious ceremony at a holy place that is not in accordance with the custom of the holy site and which offends the sensitivities of the worshipers at the place.” The penalty for violating this regulation is 6 months in jail and/or a fine. This regulation is still in effect.

April 1990

The state files a response, 150-page compendium of extreme halakhic opinions concerning women’s rights to pray out loud as a group, wear tallit, and touch or read from the Torah scroll.

June 1990

ICWOW files an independent lawsuit with the Israeli Supreme Court, stating that the cause is of critical importance for Jewish women everywhere.

August 1990

Women’s Network (Shdulat Hanashim B’yisrael) submits a motion to the Court asking to be allowed to the lawsuit as a co-petitioner. The court refuses.

February 1991

The Supreme Court hears oral argument on ICWOW’s case. Solidarity services are planned in Stockholm, Sweden, and in cities across North America.

January 1994

The Supreme Court at last issues a decision against ICWOW and Women of the Wall, but the presiding judge, Justice Shamgar recommends that the government set up a commission to resolve the matter.

February 1994

ICWOW and Women of the Wall request permission to appeal the court’s decision. The request is denied. The court states that “the doors of the court are open” if the commission does not provide a proper remedy.

May 1994

A government commission, henceforth referred to as the Mancal (directors-general) Commission, is appointed to propose a solution to the issue of women’s prayer at the wall. No women are appointed to the commission. ICWOW undertakes a massive campaign to recruit individuals and organizations to lobby the commission.

November 1994

The Commission fails to meet its first deadline. The government grants it a six-month extension.

February 1995

ICWOW and Women of the Wall are finally granted permission to testify before the Commission. Six Israeli women and one representative from the U.S. give testimonies.

May 1995

Litigation, Stage II. The Mancal Commission fails to meet its May 17 deadline. Women of the Wall and ICWOW file suit, demanding that: (1) the Commission be ordered to fulfill its mandate immediately; (2) the court issue an injunction against the government, prohibiting any further deadline extensions for the commission; (3) a temporary injunction be issued, allowing women to pray aloud at the Kotel with a Torah scroll and wearing tallitot; and (4) the state provide police protection for Women of the Wall. Judge Dalia Domer rejects the request for an injunction preventing the commission from being granted further extensions. A hearing on the rest of the lawsuit is set for 11 months later, April 14, 1996

July 1995

Despite complete inaction, the commission is granted another 6-month extension, until Nov. 17, 1995.

November 1995

In response to Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination, Women of the Wall/ICWOW reaffirm their commitment to oppose the rationalizing of terror in any form. After complete failure to fulfill its mandate, the commission allows its November 17 deadline to pass with no report issued.

April 1996

On April 2, the Mancal Commission finally issues its report, which looks at four alternate sites and proposes that the Women of the Wall be moved to the southeastern comer of the Old City wall (outside the Old City itself). Women of the Wall and ICWOW return to court for a hearing of the May 1995 petition. The petition is strongly supported by affidavits from the Progressive (Reform) and Masorti (Conservative) movements in Israel, stating that they do not want their own demands concerning the Kotel to be used as a further delaying tactic by the government. Despite our objections, the government requests and is granted a 1-month delay. On April 21, the government appoints a new ministerial commission to decide if and how to implement the Mancal Commission’s report. ICWOW immediately initiates a letter-writing campaign to the new commission.

May 1996

Women of the Wall/ICWOW’s delayed April hearing (for the suit filed in May 1995) comes before the court once again. The government is again granted a delay, this time until July 29, 1996.

June 1996

Israeli elections give newly-expanded influence to ultra-Orthodox parties. Women of the Wall and ICWOW vow to persist in the struggle for women’s equality and religious freedom. Praying aloud with Torah and tallit in the women’s section at the Kotel remains a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fines.

October 1996

The Israeli Supreme Court orders the Ministry of Religion to pay Women of the Wall and ICWOW 5000 shekels toward legal costs for their “interminable delays” and for the disrespectful “recommendation” that Women of the Wall pray at the southeastern comer of the Old City, a site entirely outside the Old City and outside the Jewish Quarter.

January 1997

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, Chancellor of Bar-Ilan University, issues a statement of unequivocal public support for Women of the Wall’s right to pray in their fashion.

March 1997

On March 4, the Israeli Supreme Court orders the state to “show just cause within 90 days why Women of the Wall’s lawsuit against the government should not succeed.” One day later, a bill sponsored by the SHAS party passes a preliminary vote in the Knesset. The bill, which would turn the Kotel from a national site into an ultra-Orthodox synagogue, reflects the fear of a Women of the Wall victory in the Supreme Court, and represents an attempt to override that possibility.

June 1997

The Ministerial Commission issues its report, recommending maintenance of the status quo, under which women’s group prayer at the Kotel is illegal. One week later, the state files its response with the Supreme Court and attached the decision of the commission. Both documents represent an acknowledgment that the state is unwilling to protect the legal and halakhic rights of Jewish women at the Kotel.

September 1997

Shortly before the date of Women of the Wall’s court hearing, Nili Arad, the lawyer representing the government, makes several proposals, including establishing another Ne’eman commission (along the lines of the Ne’eman commission then working on issues of conversion), and/or allotting Women of the Wall a place to pray at Robinson’s Arch, adjacent to the Kotel. Women of the Wall and ICWOW agree unanimously to reject these proposals.  But at the hearing, pushed by the judges, we and our lawyers conclude that there is no alternative but to participate in a commission. Women of the Wall agrees to present minimal terms for participating in the Commission within two weeks. Ultimately, these terms are not met.

March 1998

First meeting of Ne’eman Commission. Several key members are absent.

May 1998

Meeting of Ne’eman Commission. A representative of the Ministry of Religion, while claiming he is not authorized to offer solutions, reviews the status of alternate sites that had been previously rejected by Women of the Wall, the Antiquities Authority, or police, and maintains that the only remaining option is the area by the security gates separating the Kotel plaza from Dung Gate, under the steps leading up to the archaeological garden—currently a parking area. Y. Ne’eman suggests that the feasibility of this site, including the construction of some structure to protect women there, be investigated by all parties.

July 1998

Tour of Kotel area by members of the Ne’eman Commission.

September 1998

The Neeman Commission issues its report, concluding that that Women of the Wall should pray in the Robinson’s Arch area immediately south of the Kotel, currently an archeological site). Women of the Wall had no vote, nor was any serious attention given to our compromise proposal of a time-sharing arrangement.

February 1999

On Feb. 16 the State submits an affidavit by Jerusalem Chief of Police Yair Yitzhaki arguing that it is Women of the Wall who provoke violence. The next day the Supreme Court holds a two-hour hearing on the petition of Women of the Wall and ICWOW to pray as a group at the Western Wall, with Torah and tallit.

January 2000

Court judges Eliahu Matza, Tova Strassburg-Cohen, and Dorit Beinish tour the Kotel plaza and proposed alternate sites, in the company of Women of the Wall and ICWOW representatives, our lawyers and those of the government, and representatives of the government legal advisor, the police, the Antiquities Authority, and councils responsible for development of the holy sites and East Jerusalem development.

May 2000

In a lengthy opinion Judge Eliahu Matza, with Judges Tova Strassburg-Cohen and Dorit Beinish concurring, explicitly recognizes our rights, but transfers the matter to the government yet again, charging it to find a solution at the Kotel within six months. He awards WOW 20,000 shekels for legal costs.  The Shas and Degel Ha’Torah religious parties introduce in the Knesset repressive bills aimed at overriding the Court’s ruling. One of these bills would make women’s worship at the Western Wall with Torah and tallitot (prayer shawls) an offense punishable by seven years imprisonment.

June 2000

The State files a Request for an Appeal on the May 22 decision.

November – December 2001

On December 3, a proposed bill no. 1924 was voted on in the Knessest. The is an amendment to the Holy Sites Law of 1967 and reads as follows: “1. The prayer area at the Western plaza shall be divided into a men’s section and women’s section by a divider, and prayers by men and women in a mixed group shall not be permitted there. 2. No religious ceremony shall be held in the women’s section naer the Western Wall that includes taking out a Torah scroll and reading from it, blowing the shofar, or wearing tallitot or tefillin. 3. Violators shall be imprisoned for seven years.”  WOW and ICWOW orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to the prime minister, the justice minister, and the speaker of the Knesset.

November 2009

On Rosh Hodesh, Kislev, November 18, 2009, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation demanded that the police stop WOW’s prayer services; and in response, the police arrested group member Nofrat Frenkel, a young Israeli medical student.  Frenkel was held for several hours, interrogated, and charged with illegally wearing a tallit at the Western Wall.

January 2010

WOW chairperson, Anat Hoffman, was interrogated on January 5th 2010. She was finger printed and warned she would be charged with a felony offense for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall.

May 2010

Noa Raz, a member of Women of the Wall,  in her early thirties who lives and works in Tel Aviv, was physically assaulted early Tuesday morning of May 12th by an ultra-Orthodox man at the Central Bus Station in Be’er Sheva for having the imprints of tefillin (phylacteries) lines visible on her arms.

July 2010

Chaiperson of WOW, Anat Hoffman was arrested for carrying a sefer Torah during Rosh Chodesh Av. Moments after leaving the Wall, police confronted and blocked the procession and began menacingly to attempt to remove the Torah from Hoffman’s arms.Hoffman was detained under the pretext that she was not praying according to the traditional customs of the Kotel. Hoffman was taken into police custody and interrogated for five hours.Hoffman was released from police custody and banned from the Kotel for 30 days.