Death threats sent over Women of Wall
Israel’s Chief Rabbis have received threatening letters insisting that the Women of the Wall feminist alliance must be allowed to pray at the Western Wall.
The letters had a picture of a handgun, a message that “this is your last warning,” and a warning that “your end is close”. The text read: “If the Women of the Wall are not allowed to pray according to our own way and our own customs, we will fight you with all our abilities and you will go home with 100 Charedi corpses.”
It was sent to the Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, as well as to Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar.
“It’s not clear yet who is behind it,” Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The AJN, adding that Women of the Wall members are not being treated as suspects.
The letter is a bizarre turn of events in the long-running dispute over whether Women of the Wall should be allowed to hold a monthly communal prayer service at the Western Wall. Last month they did so for the first time with the state’s blessing – until then it had been deemed illegal. It is unclear what will happen when they next head to the Wall, on Sunday.
Women of the Wall released a statement saying: “Women of the Wall is saddened by the violent threats that were sent to the Chief Rabbis. We wish them strength and courage during this trying time.
“All those involved and educated on the subject know that there is no connection between the content and style of these letters and the spirit of nonviolence, tolerance and acceptance which drives Women of the Wall.”
An Orthodox group that opposes women’s communal prayer at the Kotel, Women for the Wall, said that it was “deeply troubled” by the “escalation”. It did not blame Women of the Wall for the letters, however its founder Ronit Peskin did say: “We are extremely pained by the atmosphere of divisiveness and hate that has developed as a result of Women of the Wall’s insistence on introducing unilateral changes to the prayer tradition practised at the Western Wall.”
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