Yesh Atid MK Dr. Aliza Lavie did not play to form last Rosh Chodesh. A founding member of Kolech a self-described Orthodox feminist group Dr. Lavie nevertheless declined to join three female MKs from left-wing parties who participated in the monthly gathering of Women of the Wall (WoW) at the Kosel.
WoW seeks every Rosh Chodesh to read from a Sefer Torah at theKoselPlaza and pray there wearing tallitot and tefillin in contravention of a 2003 ruling of the Supreme Court upholding the authority of the head of the Holy Sites to ban such practices at the Kosel. The Israel Police normally enforces the Supreme Court order but did not do so on Rosh Chodesh Nisan because of the presence of the three MKs.
In that same 2003 decision the Supreme Court ordered the government to provide an area for heterodox prayer ceremonies at Robinson’s Arch further south on the Western Wall. Heterodox groups have used that site for their religious rites without harassment from Orthodox protestors.
Explaining her refusal to join her Knesset colleagues Dr. Lavie said that it was inappropriate for an MK to deliberately violate a Supreme Court order even if the threat of arrest was negligible. I suspect that as a mitzvah-observant Jew she was also put off by the use of religious ceremonies to make political statements.
Create a free account to keep reading.
