Tel Aviv rejects court’s compromise deal over gender-separated Yom Kippur services
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Tel Aviv Municipality rejects a compromise offer made by the Supreme Court to enable the Rosh Yehudi Orthodox Jewish outreach movement to hold a traditional, gender-separated Yom Kippur prayer service in an outdoor area of Tel Aviv, during a hearing on the issue in court.
The Supreme Court justices suggest the prayer service be held in Meir Park instead of in Dizengoff Square as planned by the organizers, but the legal representative for the municipality rejects the offer, saying it is opposed to gender separation anywhere in the city’s outdoor public spaces, Ynet reports.
The justices express deep frustration with the Tel Aviv Municipality’s position, with Justice Yechiel Kasher arguing that its stance was discriminatory against Orthodox prayers since the municipality does allow non-Orthodox, mixed-gender prayers in public spaces.
“I don’t understand, the municipality cannot allow prayer according to traditional practices in the public space?” demands liberal justice Ofer Grosskopf.
“You are saying that in a closed space like a synagogue, gender separation is possible, but outdoors its forbidden? Those who want Orthodox prayer have to go, and those who don’t, don’t have to go? Why does the municipality need to prevent this kind of prayer?” Grosskopf demands.
Rosh Yehudi appealed the decision of the Tel Aviv District Court not to overrule the municipal authority’s decision to prohibit the gender-separated service, leading to the hearing in the Supreme Court which is ongoing. A gender-separated prayer led by Rosh Yehudi on Yom Kippur last year led to angry scenes in Tel Aviv that sparked a national outcry.