Judge - graduate of Hevron: Women of the Wall allowed to wrap in tallis

Moshe Sobel, District Court judge in Jerusalem and a graduate of Hevron Yeshiva, ruled in favor of 'Women of the Wall'.

Today (Thursday) he decided to reject the police appeal on the court's decision not to remove from the Western Wall in Jerusalem for three months, five women from the 'Women of the Wall' – who were arrested last Rosh Chodesh, after having wrapped themselves in a tallis.

In a precedent ruling the Court held that wrapping in a tallis is not against the rules of the place and not breaking the law. Judge Sobel said that for years the state has been making incorrect use of the interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling.

The court addressed in detail the history of the struggle of Women of the Wall, the rulings of the Supreme Court and especially the interpretation of the phrase "Minhag Hamakom (local custom) – on which the police bases its claim that the Women of the Wall violate the law.

According to the judge Sobel, the Supreme Court did not intend to determine that the custom of the place is under the Orthodox interpretation, but by "pluralistic - secular - national interpretation', and so 'Women of the Wall' did not violate the "local custom."

The decision, no doubt, will overturn the reality at the place.

Women of the Wall organization defined the decision as "revolutionary, including precedents that will change the rules of the game that were common to date the Western Wall."

Reform officials hinted that on Rosh Chodesh Sivan we may see an egalitarian prayer of men and women at the Western Wall, without reference to the men's or women's section which is accepted today.


Rav of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said in response to the decision of the District Court that he will appeal to the Attorney General and the State Attorney's Office to examine the implications of the judgment and its meanings, especially with respect to the decision of the Supreme Court.

Even after the ruling of the District Court of Jerusalem, the Western Wall rabbi calls on all parties to act responsibly: "The Western Wall is the last place left that unites us. It is easy to set the plaza on fire with controversy. It is much more difficult to find the middle way that will allow everyone to continue to feel affiliated and wanted at the Wall. I beg the state authorities, and the silent majority, for whom the Western Wall is close to heart, to prevent radicals of all parties to turn the Western Wall into disputed territory between brothers."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!