Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ambassador Oren:
Hodesh Tov. I hope you are as outraged as I am by the police actions at the
Kotel this morning against Anat Hoffman, chair of the Women of the Wall
davvening group. As was reported in the Jerusalem Post, Ms. Hoffman was not,
as alleged, reading from the Torah, but carrying it, which is not against
the law according to the ruling. Furthermore, the police themselves showed
marked disrespect for the Torah, according to the Post: “[Hoffman] was
holding the Torah in the women’s section and walked out with it. The Kotel
Police told her to stop and she didn’t. They tried to forcefully remove the
Torah from her hands. They almost ripped the Torah from it’s covering. They
were physical. People fell and they pushed her the entire time.”
I urge you to use your powers to instruct the Jerusalem police to refrain
from such acts of bullying and to focus on detaining and arresting those who
engage in violence against us. Otherwise you have capitulated to the threats
and actions of violent thugs.
Please: use your powers to ensure that women are ensured the right of group
prayer, out loud, in the women’s section of the Kotel, in accordance with
the Supreme Court ruling, which the police seem more and more to be defying.
Sincerely
Rabbi Marion Shulevitz