Women of the Wall to perform partial priestly blessing
After the attorney general barred them of performing the full ceremony, the Jewish women's group agreed to a compromise allowing them to perform the blessing at a cordoned off area of the Western Wall.
The Women of the Wall will perform a partial priestly blessing at a cordoned off area of the Western Wall on Sunday morning after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit barred them from holding the full ceremony.
The group, which calls for gender equality at the Western Wall, reached a compromise with the attorney general, according to which they will perform the ceremony and read the verses, however they will do so without wearing a Talit (Jewish prayer shawl), and without raising their hands over the community in blessing – two central facets of the prayer.
The priestly blessing is traditionally only performed by men who can trace their roots back to the Cohen priestly class of the holy temple periods.
Several weeks ago, the Women of the Wall group announced their intentions to perform the ceremony during Chol HaMoed (the intermediate days of Passover). However, the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, turned to the attorney general and requested to legally bar the women from holding the ceremony, a request the attorney general accepted.
While Mandelblit was still serving as Cabinet Secretary, he headed a committee to address the concerns of the Women of the Wall group, and formulated a compromise whereby a mixed gender area at the wall was established.
At the time, a petition to the Supreme Court was submitted against the Women of the Wall, but was rejected.
The historic Supreme Court ruling on the matter of Women of the Wall determines that it is permitted for the women to pray according to male custom, including putting on Tefilin (phylacteries) and Talit, reading from the Torah scroll, and saying Kadish (the prayer of mourning). However, the attorney general made the unusual decision to define the priestly blessing as off limits, and barred the women from performing the ceremony in full.
Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, said in response that "although we disagree with the decision of the attorney general, we intend to stand by our commitments to abide the law. However, we can't disregard the absurdity of the demands by the religious affairs minister and chief rabbi that we don't raise our hands in blessing, put on a Talit over our heads, or bless the people of Israel on Sunday morning, while the very next day, the men will be allowed to perform all of these rituals."
Ultra-Orthodox officials have called on their followers to protest the prayers by the women, and have even threatened to disrupt the ceremony.
