Court: Gov't needs to explain why women can't read Torah at Western Wall
The High Court of Justice demanded on Wednesday to receive the state’s response to a petition demanding that women be given the right to read Torah in the women’s section of the Western Wall plaza.Tension had already been growing inside the government over the plan to create a pluralist prayer section at the Western Wall.In a decision given on Monday but released on Wednesday, the High Court demanded that the state give its response to the petition against the plan within 12 days.The petition, filed on behalf of leaders of the Original Women of the Wall organization, requests that the court declare void a directive written by administrator of the Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz in 2010 which prohibits anyone from bringing a private Torah scroll into the Western Wall plaza.Although the administrator of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites is able to lay out directives relating to the Law for the Holy Places, such measures must be approved the chief rabbis and the religious services minister, which Rabinowitz did not receive.ByREUTERS06/08/2025 07:57 AMByREUTERS06/08/2025 05:36 AMByMAARIV06/07/2025 02:33 PMByWALLA!06/07/2025 11:18 AMByREUTERS06/07/2025 03:25 AM
