The organizers of gender-separated Yom Kippur Minyan at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square canceled them Thursday for fear of harassment, despite securing in court the right to hold them.
“Although the court ruled in our favor, and following fears of rioting, Rosh Yehudi will hold the prayers in the Beit Knesset at 54 Bar Kochba St.,” wrote the group, whose mission is strengthening Jewish identity.
The announcement follows a High Court of Justice ruling the previous day that ensured the legality of the prayers. It overturned a Tel Aviv District Court ruling from last month in favor of the municipality’s ban on the annual Yom Kippur prayers at the square if they feature separation of the genders.
The municipality said allowing gender-separated events was discriminatory. Petitioners who appealed the decision at the district court said that banning such events was anti-Jewish, citing similar events held by Muslims, and a violation of their religious freedoms.
Last year, the Dizengoff Square service, which was held with a permit, descended into violence after radical secularists disrupted it, desecrating scripture and tearing down dividers that participants had placed to separate the gender, in keeping with Halacha.
The events were vivid evidence of the polarization shaping Israeli society around several issues, including the role of religion in society. The controversy was sidelined by the outbreak of war the following day on Oct. 7 with Hamas in Gaza, and later with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
On social media, militant secularists vowed to provoke worshipers and disrupt their prayers in public if they show up on Yom Kippur, which this year begins at sunset on Oct. 11.
“We will sound loud female voices, realize our right to demonstrate noisily in front of you while eating falafel in bikinis and make sure you won’t be able to hear the shofar,” wrote Magi Otsri, a writer and jurist, on X. “If you think we’ll let you pray in peace for even one minute, you clearly don’t know where you are. This is Tel Aviv, f***ers.”
“God willing, there will be many public prayers across the county, including in the first Hebrew city. During wartime, when our troops risk their lives in courageous fighting, and when the whole nation is praying for the safe return of our hostages, the path forward to victory and vanquishing the enemy and retrieving out hostages is through adding holiness, unity and inner peace.
“Unfortunately, we have heard of plans to also ruin this legal prayer. We choose responsibly to accept the damage rather than cause damage, and will pray on Kippur at Beit Knesset,” Rosh Yehudi wrote.
(JNS)