When will the Orthodox understand that the Kotel is not only for them . That the Kotel is there , as i wrote already , for all the Jews . Be they Orthodox , Reform , conservative or even secular Atheist as i am . The Kotel is part of OUR History , the History of the Jewish People , not only of the Orthodox , and is one of the reasons that we can claim this country as ours .

There was an agreement that women who pray with tallis and other egalitarian groups should davven at the Robinson Arch which is another part of the Kotel. The Masorti Movement made an agreement with government and now they are violating that agreement. Abiding by the law only when it is convenient....

The high court ruled that he religious status quo must be maintained at the wall - this includes dress, separation, as well as Otrthodox rule over prayer - these women broke the law, were arrested and released no brutality. These laws apply only to the Kotel plaza even though that is only a VERY small part of the Kotel. There are other areas of the kotel set aside for Reform or conservative groups where women can pray how they want - if these women wanted to sing versus of praise they can do it there - there desire to only do it in the part of the Kotel set up for Orthodox prayer shows their goal is only to be a provocation.

One state with liberty and justice for all. Jew, Arab, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, religious, non-religious, woman, man, heterosexual, non-heterosexual, black, white, yellow, brown. The idea of a Jewish only state is an abject failure. Even if there were no Muslims or Palestinians I think the Jewish only state would tear itself apart because of the inherent sexism and racism inside a fundamentalist religion like Talmudic Judaism. Change or die. That is the only logical choice.

if you enter a house of worship in the united states and disturb the worship you are liable to arrest and fines and/or prison. same here...

Why does it matter so much where a woman prays or wear talit? It's a wall for crying out loud. I don't think God cares what gender does what near a structure of thousand year old stones just as long he receives praise of some sort.

No matter how many anti religious articles Ynet recycles, this is what is going to happen. The Malchut will be restored with the appointment of a King and the Torah system of government under the direction of the Sanhedrin. Every attempt to incite, to vilify or to destroy Judaism will only hasten this process.

The authorities have to find a balance to try and keep as many people at the kotel happy as possible. It is such a holy place that its traditional halachic laws that are applied and the orthodox don't like to see women wearing a talit and carrying a Torah and other customs adopted by groups like progressive and reform judaism. Most women would quite happily accept these rules and are not bothered, they go to pray or visit the site and they accept rules like this without question. Then you get the odd individual who wont accept these orthodox rules and ending up causing a fuss. Even non jewish men are supposed to cover their head. Is it fair for somebody whose custom is not to cover their head to be told they have to wear a hat or kipa. There are probably some who would object but most are happy to respect the custom of that area even if its not how they do things at home. It may seem unfair but special religious sites like the Kotel are unique and modern secular ideas like womens rights or individual customs don't come into it they have their own special set of laws. I have a relative who went to visit Windsor Castle in England. He is an orthodox jew and so he keeps his head covered at all times. On the tour they visited the queens private chapel and custom there was everybody must remove their hats. He wasn't wearing a kipa at the time only a hat so it was against his faith to be asked to remove his hat. He chose to leave the chapel and keep his hat on. It seems unfair to say somebody of another faith must stick to these rules but its a unique place with its own set of rules that don't apply in other places. Women are permitted to visit and pray at the Kotel they are just asked to respect certain customs.

is dumb and stupid but if that is what a person wants to do, male or female,it is their sovereign right to do so as it is their right to dress in any garb they wish, cloacks or shawls or any other non run of the mill accoutrements that please them. The wall belongs to all of us, it is a National treasure and each to his own in regard to his or her attitude or reverence, or for that matter irreverence.

this author is pretending to represent the orthodox opinion by saying that orthodox jews would reject the behavior displayed the rabbi of the wall and the police in an effort to gain more sympathy for his personal opinion. what he needs to understand is that these women are purposefully causing an uproar by upsetting religious sensitivities by the large majority of worshippers at the wall.

Since Rodman describes the Rabbi of the Kotel as "so called", then what of Rodman himself, the "so called" Conservative rabbi? Rodman knows he is not considered a halachic authority so why the Purim parade? As to the "so called" competent authorities he doesn't cite ...

Peretz. In one article today you're getting attacked for being a Haredi (suggesting that money is not the end all and be all in life). In the next article you're being attacked for destroying religious norms. I guess you just can't get a break, but I've agreed with you both times!

why not properly washed and cleaned HATREDIM parasites are allowed to the wall and others banned. It's a time for constitution here in this country. I would suggest to police to be sooooo active when it's come to the Intel or Carta parking riots or road accidents.

so why should we care about Jewish women being manhandled?

They were having a demonstration; they were chanting and singing outloud thus pre-emptying the observant men at the Wall to pray, since Torah Law forbids them to do it while hearing a woman's voice; they were BREAKING THE LAW, since it is forbidden BY CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LAW to hold demonstrations at the Kotel and to disturb the peace provoking the worshippers. They were doing EVERYTHING BUT PRAY. HAD they wanted just to pray, they'd have done it like the other thousands of women do ALL THE TIME without anyone bothering them, or in the apposite designated sites for that kind of circus.

there are biological and familial differences between genders. some dont. No lesbian "rabbis" no kidnapping of Judaism. there wont be half the issues at the retaining wall of the Temple

have 5% chance of being Jews. 4000 years ended with your disregard for Judaism, and exclusive love of quasi greek hedonism & mamone.

but this time, and lately, there have been disturbing protests by the women of the US reform movement who have indeed made disturbances in their quest to bully the law and get what they want. btw, I am a woman who has no problem going to the Kotel and praying freely. It is a lie that is helping these American protester women of reform that spin these lies about women not being able to pray freely. The Kotel has hundreds of women of all varieties of observance praying there daily. So why did this group have to disturb things? I am a Conservative but I understand that men cannot hear women's voices. It isn't up to us to stomp all over other people's observance in order to demand some weird take on equal rights. Would you go to Haifa and bully the BaHai or up to the Temple Mount and demand Muslims allow women to attend? No. But for some reason the American tendency to gain ground by getting in the face of whatever they want to upset is supposed to be ok at the Kotel. The Reform movement has done itself a dissservice by their recent actions in Israel and although I have never been attracted to a system that is so watered down it isn't much different than a Chrisitan non demon service except for the word Jesus, these protests inside Israel of late make me angry at them. Reform movement has no business in Israe. Now, that said, I sincerely hope that the Conservative movement leaders reach out to the modern Orthodox community and kindle a relationship that will foster greater alliances and disallow any further associations with the US Reform movement.

Mr. Balbin of Melbourne asks about my usage, "'so-called' rabbi of the Kotel." Please note I did not include the noun "rabbi" within the quotation marks. He is a real rabbi; that's not in question. What is in question is his title. It's "the person responsible for the holy sites," not "rabbi of the Kotel." There is no such position.

The Masorti Movement has no ties to Women of the Wall and was in no way responsible for their actions at the Kotel. Women of the Wall is a group that includes women from all streams/denominations of Judaism.

Judaism is not a race but a religion and a way of life, otherwise there wouldn't be converts. You can adopt a new religion and live by that religion, but you cannot adopt a race. You are Jewish if you follow judaism period. I really don't give a damn whether you feel jewish or not. At the end of the day what matters is how you live your life. The orthodox judaism dictates a set of rules from the Torah, Mishna etc.., Other movements picked and chose what is convenient, handy, good value for money and gave them names such as progressive, reform, conservative, bla bla bla bla. I love all aspects of orthodoxy except the price of Kosher meat in the Galut. Should I start a new movement with a brand name reflecticting orthodoxy without the rules of Kashrut?

How about if you are Gay? Say I accept that some people are gay, I have no problem with their being gay, even if I have no interest myself. But don't force me to embrace that lifestyle. This is what she is doing. I am orthodox, this woman is not. I respect that, but where is her respect for me? There is an orthodox section which separates men and women, there are other sections for other streams where they don't. She doesnt have a right to violate my beliefs either. I really don't want to be mooning over some good looking Israeli guy while I'm praying and I don't want him to be distracted by a good looking woman ( whomever it might be).

when the police arrest haredi protesters, thats fine because they'r carrying out orders, now all of a sudden its a problem!?

If the quality of thinking is any indication of the quality of a thought--then those who post here to object to this article are in deep ...you know what; #25: they weren't praying in the men's section nor having a "let's all be be gay" rally--soo what could you be talking about? #24: "judaism is not a race it is a religion...you cannot adopt a race" . Irrefutable and... 100% irrelevant. What might YOU be talking about? #19: "there are biological and familial differences between genders...there wont be half the issues at the retaining wall of the Temple?" Don't even know where to go with that. #18 "they were having a demonstration[ not praying]; they were chanting and singing outloud." Umm, 'chanting and singing' sounds an awful lot like praying and not so much like demonstrating. I don't think they were 'pre-emptying [sic]' anyone... #9: David, my recommendation for you is that you get together with your natural partners, the islamic jihadists, and work out the details of the caliphate together. Good luck with that. The bottom line of Rabbi Rodman's article was simply that EVEN IF there was an objection to what the women were doing , the gross violation of simple derekh eretz and sniut by the police was unwarranted , mean-spirited and a busha shared by all of us. The point of the story about what happened 40 years ago is that what occurred was as objectionable to the men at the kotel then, as this may have been to others now, but even so, they could still recognize inhumanity and cruelty in the security men's response when they saw it. Not so, apparently, in our day. oiy lanu.

Does it dawn on anyone that the sexually perverted have lost their way? That the attempt by Frankel, an admitted lesbian, is motivated by her own dementia? It was not long ago that homosexuality and lesbianism where called what they are. Political motivations have entered into mainstream medicine and dysfunctionalism has become popular.

That the poloice may have acted heavy handidly may be do, but would the Woman have listend to kind instructions to move on, in fact did they? So perhaps the Police had no alternative, as they have none when they deal with the Haradim causing a disturbance outside Intel. These so called angalic women are the real problem. They show no respect for Jewish tradition and are deliberately provocative,

As to the question of "Why is it acceptable to treat women attempting to pray with such brutality? " The answer is because in Orthodoxy women to a great degree lack legal personality. They cannot act as witnesses. They cannot institiute a divorce against their husbands. They cannot be counted for a minyan. They may not sing in front of men. When married they may not show their hair in public. Given this mind set the road to brutality is a very short one. Grant Freedom