Woman praying at Women of the Wall service wearing a tallit and tefillin. Women of the Wall (Hebrew: נשות הכותל, Neshot HaKotel) is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist: "The Women of the Wall believed themselves to be liberal feminists." organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments (tallit, tefillin and kippah). Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism."U.S. Department of State: 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel and The Occupied Territories (May 20, 2013)" One of those restrictions is that the administrator of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal. In January 2016, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision, even though their prayer was not egalitarian or non-Orthodox. but the plan faced opposition from other factions, including some ultra-Orthodox members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, who threatened to withdraw over the government's plan to create non-Orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall in deference to the Women of the Wall.Netanyahu facing crisis as haredim vow to quit over Western Wall pluralism. The Jerusalem Post, March 7, 2016 Some board members and long-time supporters opposed this and began calling themselves Original Women of the Wall. In January 2017, the Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by  Original Women of the Wall". Summary 250px|The Western Wall (August 2012) From the start, Women of the Wall included Orthodox members and  their service was run according to "Orthodox standards." This was despite the fact that according to some orthodox standards, women do not wear tzitzit, tefillin, or read from the Torah.Sztokman, Elana (January 29, 2014). "Tefillingate: Orthodoxy must not reject its most committed members" (Haaretz). Retrieved October 29, 2014. Many Orthodox individuals were offended, including some who call themselves Orthodox feminists.: "A third reason for choosing Orthodox services was our awareness that if we did not adopt Orthodox standards, Orthodox women would not attend our services or, in all likelihood, support our struggle. Non-Orthodox women who have been involved in the Kotel struggle have been most generous in allowing Orthodox practice to prevail, and our services at the Kotel as well as the solidarity services we sponsored elsewhere therefore have been conducted in accordance with Orthodox standards. Despite this many Orthodox women, even those who were active in women's tefillah groups and leaders of Orthodox feminism, remained reticent and ambivalent about our struggle to pray at the Kotel, and Orthodox rabbis, even those who permitted women's tefillah their synagogues, did not support our right to pray in an identical fashion at the Kotel.: "The movement, which is controversial, even among Orthodox feminists, myself included..." Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational group, including Reform, Conservative and modern- orthodox members.Amid Violence, Women of the Wall Vote Not to Engage Police This Month Haaretz, Oct 12, 2015 As Women of the Wall moved away from their commitment to include all Jewish women, Original Women of the Wall continued to hold prayer services at the Women's section of the Western Wall. Since 1988, the group has faced a legal battle for recognition of their right to pray at the Western Wall. Their presence is deemed offensive by some Orthodox worshippers at the site and there have been numerous court proceedings to settle the issue. On the Fast of Esther 1989, Orthodox men, outraged by the women's singing, hurled chairs and verbal insults at the women, which resulted in the deployment of tear gas to quell the violence. In 2010, police arrested two Haredi men at the Western Wall Plaza on suspicion that they threw chairs at a Women of the Wall group that was praying aloud at the site.2010 Human Rights Report: Israel and the occupied territories. U.S. Department of state. This article incorporates public domain material from this source. In 2009, the first woman was arrested for praying with a tallit. The struggle by the Women of the Wall is seen by the Israeli Orthodox religious establishment as an attempt to undermine their influence in an effort to introduce religious pluralism. A plan was approved by the Israeli Cabinet in January 2016 to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. In 2017 the Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel was brought by Original Women of the Wall  . However, later that year it was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate had been suspended. Events since the ruling of April 24, 2013 Events since May 2013DateNew monthNotesSourcesMay 10, 2013SivanIn response to the ruling allowing the Women of the Wall to hold their services at the site, between 5,000 and 10,000 Haredi girls converged to prevent the women from approaching. Police in turn offered protection to around 400 women who formed the largest gathering in the group's history. The women prayed together with a group of male supporters, the first time a mixed service had been held by the organisation. They had planned to bring a Torah scroll into the women's prayer section, but reneged upon the request of Minister of Religious Affairs Naftali Bennett. Three Haredi men were arrested for disturbing the peace. Chair of Women of the Wall, Anat Hoffman, said "We are continuing in the footsteps of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall." Women for the Wall is founded to campaign against the Women of the Wall.At Western Wall, a clash over women praying. USA Today, (May 10, 2013)Maltz, Judith & Ettinger, Yair. Protesters hurl rocks in clashes over Women of the Wall prayer service at Kotel, Haartez (May 10, 2013).May 19, 2013Threatening graffiti was sprayed on the front door of a board member of the Women of the Wall organisation. It read: "Peggy, you're the first. We know where you live. Jerusalem is holy. The Western Wall will not be forfeited. The Women of the Wall are villains." MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) blamed the attack on provocative statements by ultra-Orthodox MKs, and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and his ultra-Orthodox deputy, Yitzhak Pindrus, denounced the act. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch of the Western Wall called it "a despicable incident," which "did not represent Judaism."Nachshoni Kobi. 'Torah tag' sprayed on Women of Wall member's house, Ynet, (May 20, 2013).Vandals target home of Women of the Wall activist, Times of Israel, (May 20, 2013).June 6, 2013It was reported that Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar had received death threats. The letters stated that if the Women of the Wall are not allowed to pray according to their ways and custom, "we will fight you with all measures, and you will return home with 100 bodies of haredim... We will no longer practice restraint. We will re-liberate the Western Wall." Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch had also received a similar letter. Women of the Wall said that the organization "had nothing to do with the act and that the style of these letters does not match the love of Israel spirit led by the group."Nachshoni Kobi. Chief rabbis threatened over Kotel war, Ynet, (June 4, 2013). July 8, 2013 Av United Torah Judaism arranged for between 5,000 and 7,000 Haredi girls to assemble at the wall and for the first time in 25 years, police prevented the Women of the Wall from approaching the site. Male protesters numbered around 1,000. The women, numbering around 300, held their service at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza and were occasionally disturbed by shouting and targeted at least twice by water bombs and eggs. An Orthodox man and women were arrested for public order offenses. Gilad Kariv of the Reform Movement in Israel said the police had "given a reward to a small group of Haredi provocateurs and rabbis who deal in spreading baseless hatred." Orthodox Jerusalem deputy mayor Yitzhak Pindrus said "baseless hatred caused the greatest destruction to befall our people and we will not let a small group of agitators to continue to polarise with provocations and baseless hatred." Sharon, Jeremy. Thousands of haredi girls prevent Women of Wall from praying by Western Wall, Jerusalem Post, (July 8, 2013).Fiske, Gavriel. Women of the Wall denied access to Kotel, Times of Israel, (July 8, 2013).August 27, 2013A temporary platform for non-Orthodox egalitarian prayer was unveiled at Robinson's Arch, the archaeological site adjacent to the Western Wall plaza. Referring to it as a "sunbathing deck", Anat Hoffman criticized it as "second-rate Wall for second-rate Jews."Bennett unveils new platform for egalitarian prayer, Times of Israel, (August 27, 2013).Western Wall egalitarian plaza greeted with skepticism, Times of Israel, (August 25, 2013).October 2014Women of the Wall brought a Torah scroll to the Western Wall women's section and held their first Torah reading by a woman at the site, which was part of the bat mitzvah of Sasha Lutt. However, Shmuel Rabinowitz, the administrator of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation , issued a statement saying in part, "In future, efforts will be made to ensure that this does not happen again, and the introduction of Torah scrolls will be banned for everyone - men and women." Nevertheless, in November 2014 the group celebrated a Bat Mitvah ceremony that included reading from the miniaturized Torah scroll without interference from Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation administrator ."Maltz, Judy 'Despite warning, rabbi lets Women of the Wall read from Torah for second month'(Nov 23, URL 18, 2014Some of the Women of the Wall became the first women to light menorahs at the Western Wall. Specifically, they lit 28 menorahs in the women's section of the Wall. Comedian Sarah Silverman was among those who attended the lighting of the menorahs. However, this event came after the rabbi in charge of the Western Wall had refused a request from Women of the Wall to place a menorah in the women's section.April 20, 2015For the first time, some of the Women of the Wall read from a full-size Torah scroll during the group's monthly prayer service at the Western Wall. Torah scrolls at the Western Wall are normally stored in the men's section, which women are forbidden from entering. But on April 20 a group of male Jewish sympathizers handed a full-size Torah scroll over to Women of the Wall leaders. Some Haredi Orthodox men who had been praying at the Wall attacked the male sympathizers and tried to take the Torah scroll away from the women, but the attacking men were reportedly removed by the police, and the women were able to complete their prayer service.January 2016The Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision.April 24, 2016Women of the Wall held Passover holiday prayers at the Kotel. However, Israel's attorney general banned them from holding a female priestly blessing ceremony, ruling that a female version of the ceremony would violate a law enforcing "local customs" at religious sites in Israel. Thus they did not hold that ceremony.January 2017The Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the "Original Women of the Wall". June 2017It was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 (see above) had been suspended.October 20, 2017HeshvanSix-Day War veterans confront Western Wall Heritage Foundation guards at the Dung Gate entrance to the Western Wall and force their way in to the plaza with Women of the Wall's Torah scroll.May 15, 2018SivanFor the first time in over a year, Women of the Wall held their service outside the metal barricades set up by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation at the far corner of the women's section. Several members of the group have been arrested for acts that Women of the Wall members say are legal under the Supreme Court ruling. Nofrat Frenkel was arrested for wearing a tallit  and holding a Torah in November 2009. She was not charged, but she was barred from visiting the Wall for two weeks. On February 11, 2013, ten women who were part of WOW, including two North American rabbis, were detained for praying at the wall and "as a result of them wearing the garments that they're not allowed to wear specifically at that site." The women were barred from returning for 15 days. On April 11, 2013, five women were detained for allegedly goading and offending other worshippers. They were subsequently released by Judge Sharon Larry-Bavili without restrictions as she ruled that the female worshippers did not instigate the disturbance, but rather it was the male and female Ultra Orthodox protestors countering them that initiated it. Women of the Wall's position The Women of the Wall have consistently claimed that there is no single "custom of the place" and that their right to pray is a religious freedom enshrined in Israeli law. They believe the Western Wall is a religious site as well as a national site and therefore belongs to the entire Jewish population. Their efforts to challenge the current customs at the Wall and break the ritual status quo continues as they believe that the Wall is a holy place for all Jews. They repeatedly stress that the group is not Reform Jews, but come from all affiliations and that their conduct strictly adheres to Orthodox Jewish Law and that their prayer is genuine and not a political stunt. Some understandings of Orthodox Jewish law strictly prohibits women reading from the Torah, and to a lesser degree women wearing tallit and kippahs. Their 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." The women have made progress and as of 1988, the women have held occasional, uninterrupted prayer services wearing tallitot and tefillin. Israeli Orthodox establishment's position Many from the Israeli Orthodox Jewish religious establishment are opposed to the services conducted by the Women of the Wall. Some Orthodox rabbis claim that even if such a manner of prayer is theoretically permitted by Jewish Law, it is against Jewish custom. Even if support can be found in Jewish legal sources for various activities, the force of custom is equal to absolute law and it is the custom which determines proper conduct. Various legal opinions recorded in Halacha cannot be manipulated to introduce new forms of prayer. The opinion of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, which is cited by Women of the Wall in support of their cause, is rejected by the establishment, as they view the Women of the Wall as being motivated by feminism rather than a sincere spiritual desire.Frimer, Arye and Dov, Women's Prayer Services Theory and Practice Tradition, 1998 Their struggle is also seen as an attempt to undermine their influence and as a strategy for non-Orthodox groups to gradually gain official recognition at state level, paving the way for the introduction of religious pluralism in Israel.: "The Israeli Orthodox establishment view the Women of the Wall as being a Trojan horse to introduce Jewish pluralism and establish the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist strains of Judaism in Israel." In a letter to the group, Yehuda Getz, the government appointed rabbi of the Western Wall, urged them to stop "straying from the hallowed traditions of generations of Jews before you" and in 1989, the Israeli Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapiro and the Religious Affairs Minister suggested that these women "pray individually, silently, and preferably at home-not at the wall." Phyllis Chesler now of Original Women of the Wall wrote: "We asked for our rights under civil and religious law. When we prayed, other worshipers, both men and women, verbally and physically assaulted us. We asked the Israeli state to protect us so that we could exercise our rights. The state claimed it could not contain the violence against us, and that we ourselves had provoked the violence by "disturbing/offending" the "sensibilities of Jews at worship." Women are not seen as "Jews" or as "worshipers" with "sensibilities." %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% Original Women of the Wall has since 2014 held monthly services at the Kotel on various days of the month. They uphold the original goals of the group to hold women's prayer groups at the Women's Section of the Western Wall. Their membership consists of most of the original members of the group who were at the Wall in 1988. The group includes members from all stream of Judaism. Some of their members wear tallit (prayer shawl), tefillin and they read Torah on appropriate days.
Woman praying at Women of the Wall service wearing a tallit and tefillin. Women of the Wall (Hebrew: נשות הכותל, Neshot HaKotel) is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist: "The Women of the Wall believed themselves to be liberal feminists." organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments (tallit, tefillin and kippah). Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism."U.S. Department of State: 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel and The Occupied Territories (May 20, 2013)" One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal. In January 2016, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision, but the plan faced opposition from other factions, including some ultra-Orthodox members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, who threatened to withdraw over the government's plan to create non-Orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall in deference to the Women of the Wall.Netanyahu facing crisis as haredim vow to quit over Western Wall pluralism. The Jerusalem Post, March 7, 2016 In January 2017, the Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the " Original Women of the Wall". Summary 250px|The Western Wall (August 2012) From the start, Women of the Wall included Orthodox members and opted to claim their service was run according to "Orthodox standards." This was despite the fact that according to orthodox standards, women do not wear tzitzit, tefillin, or read from the Torah.Sztokman, Elana (January 29, 2014). "Tefillingate: Orthodoxy must not reject its most committed members" (Haaretz). Retrieved October 29, 2014. Most Orthodox individuals were offended, including some who call themselves Orthodox feminists.: "A third reason for choosing Orthodox services was out awareness that if we did not adopt Orthodox standards, Orthodox women would not attend our services or, in all likelihood, support our struggle. Non-Orthodox women who have been involved in the Kotel struggle have been most generous in allowing Orthodox practice to prevail, and our services at the Kotel as well as the solidarity services we sponsored elsewhere therefore have been conducted in accordance with Orthodox standards. Despite this many Orthodox women, even those who were active in women's tefillah groups and leaders of Orthodox feminism, remained reticent and ambivalent about our struggle to pray at the Kotel, and Orthodox rabbis, even those who permitted women's tefillah their synagogues, did not support our right to pray in an identical fashion at the Kotel.: "The movement, which is controversial, even among Orthodox feminists, myself included..." Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational group, including Reform, Conservative and modern- orthodox members.Amid Violence, Women of the Wall Vote Not to Engage Police This Month Haaretz, Oct 12, 2015 Since 1988, the group has faced a legal battle for recognition of their right to pray at the Western Wall. Their presence is deemed offensive by Orthodox worshippers at the site and there have been numerous court proceedings to settle the issue. On the Fast of Esther 1989, Orthodox men, outraged by the women's singing, hurled chairs and verbal insults at the women, which resulted in the deployment of tear gas to quell the violence. In 2010, police arrested two Haredi men at the Western Wall Plaza on suspicion that they threw chairs at a Women of the Wall group that was praying aloud at the site.2010 Human Rights Report: Israel and the occupied territories. U.S. Department of state. This article incorporates public domain material from this source. In 2009, the first woman was arrested for praying with a tallit. The struggle by the Women of the Wall is seen by the Israeli Orthodox religious establishment as an attempt to undermine their influence in an effort to introduce religious pluralism. A plan was approved by the Israeli Cabinet in January 2016 to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. In 2017 the Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the " Original Women of the Wall " . However, later that year it was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate had been suspended. Events since the ruling of April 24, 2013 Events since May 2013DateNew monthNotesSourcesMay 10, 2013SivanIn response to the ruling allowing the Women of the Wall to hold their services at the site, between 5,000 and 10,000 Haredi girls converged to prevent the women from approaching. Police in turn offered protection to around 400 women who formed the largest gathering in the group's history. The women prayed together with a group of male supporters, the first time a mixed service had been held by the organisation. They had planned to bring a Torah scroll into the women's prayer section, but reneged upon the request of Minister of Religious Affairs Naftali Bennett. Three Haredi men were arrested for disturbing the peace. Chair of Women of the Wall, Anat Hoffman, said "We are continuing in the footsteps of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall." Women for the Wall is founded to campaign against the Women of the Wall.At Western Wall, a clash over women praying. USA Today, (May 10, 2013)Maltz, Judith & Ettinger, Yair. Protesters hurl rocks in clashes over Women of the Wall prayer service at Kotel, Haartez (May 10, 2013).May 19, 2013Threatening graffiti was sprayed on the front door of an executive board member of the Women of the Wall organisation. It read: "Peggy, you're the first. We know where you live. Jerusalem is holy. The Western Wall will not be forfeited. The Women of the Wall are villains." MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) blamed the attack on provocative statements by ultra-Orthodox MKs, and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and his ultra-Orthodox deputy, Yitzhak Pindrus, denounced the act. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch of the Western Wall called it "a despicable incident," which "did not represent Judaism."Nachshoni Kobi. 'Torah tag' sprayed on Women of Wall member's house, Ynet, (May 20, 2013).Vandals target home of Women of the Wall activist, Times of Israel, (May 20, 2013).June 6, 2013It was reported that Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar had received death threats. The letters stated that if the Women of the Wall are not allowed to pray according to their ways and custom, "we will fight you with all measures, and you will return home with 100 bodies of haredim... We will no longer practice restraint. We will re-liberate the Western Wall." Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch had also received a similar letter. Women of the Wall said that the organization "had nothing to do with the act and that the style of these letters does not match the love of Israel spirit led by the group."Nachshoni Kobi. Chief rabbis threatened over Kotel war, Ynet, (June 4, 2013). July 8, 2013 Av United Torah Judaism arranged for between 5,000 and 7,000 Haredi girls to assemble at the wall and for the first time in 25 years, police prevented the Women of the Wall from approaching the site. Male protesters numbered around 1,000. The women, numbering around 300, held their service at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza and were occasionally disturbed by shouting and targeted at least twice by water bombs and eggs. An Orthodox man and women were arrested for public order offenses. Gilad Kariv of the Reform Movement in Israel said the police had "given a reward to a small group of Haredi provocateurs and rabbis who deal in spreading baseless hatred." Orthodox Jerusalem deputy mayor Yitzhak Pindrus said "baseless hatred caused the greatest destruction to befall our people and we will not let a small group of agitators to continue to polarise with provocations and baseless hatred." Sharon, Jeremy. Thousands of haredi girls prevent Women of Wall from praying by Western Wall, Jerusalem Post, (July 8, 2013).Fiske, Gavriel. Women of the Wall denied access to Kotel, Times of Israel, (July 8, 2013).August 27, 2013A temporary platform for non-Orthodox egalitarian prayer was unveiled at Robinson's Arch, the archaeological site adjacent to the Western Wall plaza. Referring to it as a "sunbathing deck", Anat Hoffman criticized it as "second-rate Wall for second-rate Jews."Bennett unveils new platform for egalitarian prayer, Times of Israel, (August 27, 2013).Western Wall egalitarian plaza greeted with skepticism, Times of Israel, (August 25, 2013).October 2014Women of the Wall smuggled in a Torah scroll to the Western Wall women's section and held their first Torah reading by a woman at the site, which was part of the bat mitzvah of Sasha Lutt. However, Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall , issued a statement saying in part, "In future, efforts will be made to ensure that this does not happen again, and the introduction of Torah scrolls will be banned for everyone - men and women." Nevertheless, in November 2014 the group celebrated a Bat Mitvah ceremony that included reading from the miniaturized Torah scroll without interference from Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Western Wall rabbi ."Maltz, Judy 'Despite warning, rabbi lets Women of the Wall read from Torah for second month'(Nov 23, URL 18, 2014Some of the Women of the Wall became the first women to light menorahs at the Western Wall. Specifically, they lit 28 menorahs in the women's section of the Wall. Comedian Sarah Silverman was among those who attended the lighting of the menorahs. However, this event came after the rabbi in charge of the Western Wall had refused a request from Women of the Wall to place a menorah in the women's section.April 20, 2015For the first time, some of the Women of the Wall read from a full-size Torah scroll during the group's monthly prayer service at the Western Wall. Torah scrolls at the Western Wall are normally stored in the men's section, which women are forbidden from entering. But on April 20 a group of male Jewish sympathizers handed a full-size Torah scroll over to Women of the Wall leaders. Some Haredi Orthodox men who had been praying at the Wall attacked the male sympathizers and tried to take the Torah scroll away from the women, but the attacking men were reportedly removed by the police, and the women were able to complete their prayer service.January 2016The Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and which would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision.April 24, 2016Women of the Wall held Passover holiday prayers at the Kotel. However, Israel's attorney general banned them from holding a female priestly blessing ceremony, ruling that a female version of the ceremony would violate a law enforcing "local customs" at religious sites in Israel. Thus they did not hold that ceremony.January 2017The Israeli High Court ruled that if the government of Israel could not find "good cause" to prohibit women reading from the Torah in prayer services at the Kotel within 30 days, women could do so; they also ruled that the Israeli government could no longer argue that the Robinson's Arch area of the plaza is access to the Kotel. The petition for women to read from the Torah at the Kotel had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the "Original Women of the Wall". June 2017It was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 (see above) had been suspended.October 20, 2017HeshvanSix-Day War veterans confront Western Wall Heritage Foundation guards at the Dung Gate entrance to the Western Wall and force their way in to the plaza with Women of the Wall's Torah scroll.May 15, 2018SivanFor the first time in over a year, Women of the Wall held their service outside the metal barricades set up by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation at the far corner of the women's section. Several members of the group have been arrested for acts that Women of the Wall members say are legal under the Supreme Court ruling. Nofrat Frenkel was arrested for wearing a tallit under her coat and holding a Torah in November 2009. She was not charged, but she was barred from visiting the Wall for two weeks. On February 11, 2013, ten women who were part of WOW, including two American rabbis, were detained for praying at the wall and "as a result of them wearing the garments that they're not allowed to wear specifically at that site." The women were barred from returning for 15 days. On April 11, 2013, five women were detained for allegedly goading and offending other worshippers. They were subsequently released by Judge Sharon Larry-Bavili without restrictions as she ruled that the female worshippers did not instigate the disturbance, but rather it was the male and female Orthodox protestors countering them that initiated it. Women of the Wall's position The Women of the Wall have consistently claimed that there is no single "custom of the place" and that their right to pray is a religious freedom enshrined in Israeli law. They believe the Western Wall is a religious site as well as a national site and therefore belongs to the entire Jewish population. Their efforts to challenge the current customs at the Wall and break the ritual status quo continues as they believe that the Wall is a holy place for all Jews. They repeatedly stress that the group is not Reform Jews, but come from all affiliations and that their conduct strictly adheres to Orthodox Jewish Law and that their prayer is genuine and not a political stunt. Orthodox Jewish law strictly prohibits women reading from the Torah, and to a lesser degree women wearing tallit and kippahs. Their 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." The women have made progress and as of 1988, the women have held occasional, uninterrupted prayer services wearing tallitot and tefillin. Israeli Orthodox establishment's position The Israeli Orthodox Jewish religious establishment is opposed to the services conducted by the Women of the Wall. Orthodox rabbis claim that even if such a manner of prayer is theoretically permitted by Jewish Law, it is against Jewish custom. Even if support can be found in Jewish legal sources for various activities, the force of custom is equal to absolute law and it is the custom which determines proper conduct. Various legal opinions recorded in Halacha cannot be manipulated to introduce new forms of prayer. The opinion of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, which is cited by Women of the Wall in support of their cause, is rejected by the establishment, as they view the Women of the Wall as being motivated by feminism rather than a sincere spiritual desire.Frimer, Arye and Dov, Women's Prayer Services Theory and Practice Tradition, 1998 Their struggle is also seen as an attempt to undermine their influence and as a strategy for non-Orthodox groups to gradually gain official recognition at state level, paving the way for the introduction of religious pluralism in Israel.: "The Israeli Orthodox establishment view the Women of the Wall as being a Trojan horse to introduce Jewish pluralism and establish the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist strains of Judaism in Israel." In a letter to the group, Yehuda Getz, the government appointed rabbi of the Western Wall, urged them to stop "straying from the hallowed traditions of generations of Jews before you" and in 1989, the Israeli Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapiro and the Religious Affairs Minister suggested that these women "pray individually, silently, and preferably at home-not at the wall." Phyllis Chesler of Women of the Wall wrote: "We asked for our rights under civil and religious law. When we prayed, other worshipers, both men and women, verbally and physically assaulted us. We asked the Israeli state to protect us so that we could exercise our rights. The state claimed it could not contain the violence against us, and that we ourselves had provoked the violence by "disturbing/offending" the "sensibilities of Jews at worship." Women are not seen as "Jews" or as "worshipers" with "sensibilities." %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% 
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even though their prayer was not egalitarian or non-Orthodox.
D
Some board members and long-time supporters opposed this and began calling themselves Original Women of the Wall.
A
a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the "
A
opted to claim
D
some
R
Many
Most
R
our
out
D
As Women of the Wall moved away from their commitment to include all Jewish women, Original Women of the Wall continued to hold prayer services at the Women's section of the Western Wall.
D
some
R
was brought by
had been brought by a group that split off from the Women of the Wall, calling itself the "
A
"
R
a
an executive
R
brought
smuggled in
R
administrator
rabbi
D
Heritage Foundation
R
Heritage Foundation administrator
rabbi
A
under her coat
D
North
D
Ultra
D
Some understandings of
R
Many from the
The
R
are
is
D
Some
R
now of Original
of
D
Original Women of the Wall has since 2014 held monthly services at the Kotel on various days of the month. They uphold the original goals of the group to hold women's prayer groups at the Women's Section of the Western Wall. Their membership consists of most of the original members of the group who were at the Wall in 1988. The group includes members from all stream of Judaism. Some of their members wear tallit (prayer shawl), tefillin and they read Torah on appropriate days.