Supreme Court orders Tel Aviv to allow gender-separated prayer service on Yom Kippur

Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Activists opposed to a gender-separated public prayer event confront worshippers in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, on Yom Kippur eve, September 24, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Activists opposed to a gender-separated public prayer event confront worshippers in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, on Yom Kippur eve, September 24, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

The Supreme Court unanimously orders the Tel Aviv Municipal Authority to allow the Rosh Yehudi Orthodox outreach organization to hold the first and last prayer services of Yom Kippur in the Meir Park with gender separation and a dividing partition for men’s and women’s sections.

The municipality had refused to allow such a service anywhere outdoors in the city, citing a municipal ordinance banning public gender separation.

The three justices were highly critical of the Tel Aviv Municipality’s position during the court hearing earlier in the day, accusing it of discriminating against Orthodox worshipers, since it does allow non-Orthodox prayer in outdoor public spaces.

The ruling itself is issued without the reasoning behind it. Rosh Yehudi welcomes the ruling, saying “Tel Aviv is part of the Jewish state, and those who want to pray with gender separation and a divider are able to do so also there.”

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