October 2, 2013
Women of the Wall will pray in the women’s section of the Western Wall on Friday Oct 4, 2013, for their monthly Rosh Hodesh service. We expect over one-hundred women to join the prayer for the new month of Heshvan. The Torah scroll will again be missing from the women’s prayer at the Kotel. The Women of the Wall Torah- banned from the Kotel since Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz’s 2010 ordinance- was found with major damage from dampness and mold due to the inadequate facilities at Robinson’s Arch where the women were forced to store the Torah. The Torah is being carefully cleaned and fixed by the leading authorities in Torah scroll repair and maintenance. Such repair will likely cost the Women of the Wall non-profit organization 8000 NIS, as this type of damage is not covered by insurance. Rabinowitz’s discrimination against women’s prayers and the lack of an appropriate immediate government response in the matter has cause damage to a Torah scroll, an escalation from the previous blatant disrespect, shown by Rabinowitz and haredi protesters, of Jewish ritual items, including siddurim, prayer shawls and tefillin.
For nearly twenty-five years Women of the Wall has continued to fight for religious freedom and women’s rights at the Western Wall. As Women of the Wall, our central mission is to achieve the social and legal recognition of our right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray, and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall.
Press Contact:
Shira Pruce
Director of Public Relations