Israeli police held back thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters who tried to prevent a liberal Jewish women’s group from praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, the first time police have come down on the side of the women and not the protesters.
The reversal followed a Jerusalem district court order backing the right of the women to pray at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, using religious rituals Orthodox Jews insist should be practiced only by men.
Wearing prayer shawls, phylacteries and skullcaps reserved for men under strict Orthodox tradition, the women sang and prayed out loud. A girl celebrating her Bat Mitzvah was hoisted on a chair as the women danced, clapping their hands and singing.
A short distance away, ultra-Orthodox men yelled and scuffled with police.
“It is very painful to see the Western Wall turn into a battlefield instead of a holy prayer site,” Jerusalem Police chief Yossi Parienti told reporters.
The “Women of the Wall” group has been holding monthly prayer services on the first day of the Hebrew month at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for more than two decades.
Accused by ultra-Orthodox leaders of violating local custom at the holy site, many of the group’s members have been arrested.
On Friday, police protected the women and arrested three ultra-Orthodox men for disorderly conduct, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Thousands of ultra-orthodox teens took part in the protest and some threw rocks, water bottles and chairs at the women.
Police formed a ring around the women in the packed Western Wall plaza, with some shoving back ultra-Orthodox men. A human chain of female police officers encircled a group of young female protesters.
The plaza in front of the Western Wall, a remnant of the biblical Jewish Temples, is marked off into two distinct sections, one for male worshippers and the other for women. Until now, women have had to abide by the Orthodox strictures of prayer.
According to a poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, 48% of Israelis support Women of the Wall prayer rights.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said that Friday’s events “reinforced the urgent need for a sustainable solution which will allow any Jew, group of Jews or Jewish community to pray at the Western Wall according to their own custom.”
He is reportedly drawing up plans to create an egalitarian prayer area as a solution to the long-running conflict.