Women hold Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony at Western Wall

Despite pouring rain and opposition from rabbi of the site, Women of the Wall group brings 50 to light menorahs

Women held a candle-lighting ceremony at the Western Wall Tuesday evening to celebrate the festival of Hanukkah, despite rabbinic opposition.

Despite the rain, cold and threats from the rabbi of the Western Wall, some 50 women gathered in the Western Wall plaza to celebrate the fourth night of the festival.

In addition to a large menorah brought by the Women of the Wall organization, several women brought and lit their own, overcoming initial police reluctance to allow the women to bring them to the plaza.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, chief rabbi of the Western Wall, had barred the women from lighting at the Western Wall. This, notwithstanding last year’s ruling by the Attorney General’s Office ordering him to include women in the annual national candle-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah.

Women of the Wall light Hanukkah candles at the Western Wall, 27 December, 2016 (Miri Tzach/Women of the Wall)

Each year dignitaries are invited to light the flames of a large eight-branched menorah opposite the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. Lighting ceremonies are held on each of the eight nights of the Hanukkah festival, which this year began on Saturday night. However, in recent times only men have been so honored.

Women of the Wall chair Anat Hoffman said that the event showed the organization’s determination for equality at the holy site.

“The Western Wall rabbi entertains VIPs every evening, honoring them with a candle-lighting at the Wall — on the condition that those so honored are all men,” she said. “Everyone who saw us tonight, praying and celebrating under the driving rain, knows that nothing will stop us: no inclement weather, no arbitrary rules or regulations, no handcuffs and not even the police.”

According to Hebrew media reports, the women were only permitted to enter after threatening to launch a social media campaign against officials if they were blocked.

Although there are many practices where Jewish law imposes different duties for men than for women, all authorities agree that women have exactly the same ritual obligation as men to light Hanukkah candles.

Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz prays at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem before a court hearing asking to allow members of "Women of the Wall" organization to pray with Torah scrolls at the Western wall plaza, December 28, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) — Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz prays at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem before a court hearing asking to allow members of “Women of the Wall” organization to pray with Torah scrolls at the Western wall plaza, December 28, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Also on Wednesday the High Court heard a petition to permit women to read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall. The Center for Women’s Justice also requested that the permanent barrier in the plaza separating the men’s and women’s sections be replaced with a mobile division that would be put in place for certain hours of the day.

“If it bothers the ultra-Orthodox to see women, let them go to their synagogues rather than come to pray at the Western Wall,” the group reportedly said.

The court deferred judgment on the case so that it can be combined with a hearing on the layout of the Western Wall plaza and a mixed-gender prayer area. The court will hear the case again on January 1, 2017.

The Western Wall, the remains of a retaining wall of the Second Temple, is both a holy site and symbol of national identity for Jews all over the world.