After last year’s public service was canceled over fear of altercations, gender-separated Yom Kippur prayers will be held in a Tel Aviv public space in October.
The Tel Aviv Municipality on Thursday issued the Rosh Yehudi NGO a permit to hold prayers in Meir Park, located in the center of the metropolis, Ynet reported on Thursday.
Rosh Yehudi (“Jewish Head” in Hebrew) tries to spread Orthodox Judaism in Tel Aviv, an attempt that has been met in the past with antagonism in the predominantly secular city.
Prayers in Meir Park will be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on the eve of Yom Kippur on Oct. 1, and from 5 to 7 p.m. during the Jewish holy day on Oct. 2.
“We are expecting a large and quiet prayer in accordance with the approval of the municipality and the High Court of Justice,” Ynet quoted Rosh Yehudi chairman Israel Zeira as saying.
“We invite local residents to join a unifying and uplifting prayer, as one person with one heart, in accordance with the municipality’s approval,” he added.
In July, a petition was submitted to the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, against an earlier court ruling that permitted separation between men and women in public spaces, for the purpose of traditional Jewish prayer on Yom Kippur.
Petitioners argued that this would create a “slippery slope” and enable local authorities to allocate additional public spaces for sex-segregated activities, according to Ynet.
Yitzhak Amit, president of the Supreme Court of Israel, dismissed the claim, saying he is not concerned about this possibility, the report added.
This controversy began in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in the beginning of the decade. Government restrictions prohibited congregations in synagogues, so worshippers prayed outdoors, with many secular Jews joining in.
When restrictions ended, outdoor services on Yom Kippur continued at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square in 2023. The service descended into violence when radical secularists disrupted it, desecrating scripture and tearing down dividers that participants had placed to separate the sexes.
The events were vivid evidence of the polarization shaping Israeli society around several issues, including the role of religion in society.
The following year, a High Court ruling overturned a Tel Aviv District Court decision to back the municipality’s ban on gender-separate public prayer.
The municipality said allowing sex-separated events was discriminatory. Petitioners who appealed the decision to the district court said that banning such events was anti-Jewish, citing similar events held by Muslims, and a violation of their religious freedom.
The High Court said that sex-segregated prayers should be allowed according to Jewish tradition, but offered to substitute Meir Park for Dizengoff Square as a compromise.
Nevertheless, Rosh Yehudi last year canceled the service for fear of harassment.
“Although the court ruled in our favor, and following fears of rioting, Rosh Yehudi will hold the prayers in the synagogue at 54 Bar Kochba Street,” wrote the group.
On Thursday, the Tel Aviv–Jaffa Municipality told JNS: “As stated in the permit granted by the municipality for holding the event, it was issued in accordance with last year’s Supreme Court ruling, which allowed the Rosh Yehudi association to hold a gender-segregated prayer in Meir Park, and the municipality, of course, respects court rulings. We hope that the prayer will take place in a manner that respects all parties.”
