Women of the Wall, is a group of Jewish women from around the world who strive to achieve the right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall (Kotel ) in Jerusalem, Israel. The Western Wall is Judaism’s most sacred holy site and the principal symbol of Jewish people-hood and sovereignty and Women of the Wall works to make it a holy site where women can pray freely.

On December 1, 1988, seventy Jewish women prayed together aloud at the Western Wall for the first time in history, and shortly thereafter, Women of the Wall read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall for the first time. Twenty-two years later, we are still reading Torah, singing and praying at the Wall every month on Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of each new month of the Hebrew Calendar) and often share other holidays and celebrations together, despite persistent resistance and some legal setbacks.

Conducting such prayer services remains illegal under Israeli law, which singles out women. On December 4th 2001, bill number 1924 was voted on and became law in the Knesset. The bill is an amendment to the Holy sites Law of 1967 and reads, “No ceremony shall be held in the Wall’s women’s section. That includes reading from a Torah, blowing the ram’s horn, wearing prayer shawls or phylacteries. Violators shall be imprisoned for seven years.”

Text adapted from http://womenofthewall.org.il/about.

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