The Women of the Wall group snuck a miniature Torah scroll into the Kotel plaza on Friday after police refused to allow them to enter with their regular Torah scroll.
The feminist group advocates greater equality for women’s permitted ritual observances at the Kotel, including allowing them to read from and dance with Torah scrolls at the holy site.
At approximately 6:30 am, the group tried to enter the Kotel plaza with a regularly-sized Torah scroll, which it intended to use for its “rosh hodesh” (marking the new month on the Jewish calendar) and a bat mitzvah ceremony in the women’s section — the first ever, according to the organization’s members. Torah scrolls are not permitted in the women’s section according to rules set by the Kotel rabbinate, and police prevented the entry of the scroll Friday morning.