JERUSALEM — Israel’s chief rabbis received death
threats in letters to their offices warning them to allow the Women of the Wall
to pray “in accordance with our customs.”
The letters, headlined “This is a last warning,” were
delivered Monday to the offices of Rabbi Yona Metzger and Rabbi Shlomo Amar. A
complaint was filed with the security officer of the Prime Minister’s Office.
“If the Women of the Wall are not allowed to pray in
accordance with our customs, we shall fight you with all available means and
you will end up with a hundred dead haredi bodies. Your end is near,” the
letter read, according to
reports.
The rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, said
in a statement issued Monday that he also had received a threatening letter
calling for him to allow the Women of the Wall to pray at the Kotel
undisturbed. Rabinowitz’s office said a complaint over the letter had been
filed with the Israel Police in Jerusalem.
The Women of the Wall said in a statement that the
organization “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.”
The Women of the Wall is scheduled to meet at the Western
Wall on June 9 for its monthly prayer service to celebrate the beginning of the
Hebrew month of Tammuz.
Last month was the group’s first monthly service at the wall
following the ruling of a Jerusalem District Court judge that said its services
at the back of the women’s section do not violate the law and merit police
protection rather than arrests.
In previous months, the women had been arrested for wearing
prayer shawls during the service, which the group has held for two decades,
because police said the practice contravened the site’s “local custom.”
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