Brian Hendler/JTA

.&•:, 41"

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Surrounded by Women of the Wall
members in prayer shawls and yamulkas,
a female Israeli army soldier reads- from
a Torah scroll on June 4, following a
prayer service at the Western Wall.

ruling capped an 11-year legal battle by
the women's group.
Sunday's service celebrated Rosh
Chodesh, the new month on the
Hebrew calendar. In recent years, the
women's group moved their monthly
services to a site near the wall.
Group member Anat Hoffman said
Sunday's turnout greatly encouraged
her. "I felt strengthened in many
ways," Hoffman said. "Five times
more women than usual arrived."
Hoffman said that police worked
effectively to maintain order.
"The police for 11 years told the
high court they could not protect us
and that it was a situation the police
cannot deal with," she said. "We think
the police can now tell the govern-
ment they can protect us."
But a member of the United Torah
Judaism bloc told CNN that the
women's behavior was "against mod-
esty." Rabbi Avraham Ravitz said,
"They can't have the right to come to
us and say, 'I think you should change
your religious law.' They don't have
the right to do so."
In its ruling, the high court gave the
government six months to come up with
the necessary arrangements to enable the
women's group to pray at the Wall.
Orthodox legislators have initiated
bills to bypass the court ruling. One
bill would sentence women to seven
years in jail for reading from the
Torah, blowing the shofar or wearing a
tallit at the Western Wall.
That bill, sponsored by the United
Torah Judaism bloc, passed the first of
three required votes in the Knesset last
week.
"We are very anxious about this leg-
islation," Hoffman said. "It is a serious
stain on the Israeli law books."

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