Director-General Yochi Rappeport-Zierler of the Women of the Wall organization, which organizes minyans for women at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem to mark the beginning of Jewish months, has expressed disappointment and pain at the refusal of Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich of the Kotel and Holy Places to respond to the organization's request for a meeting.
The request was made in a letter sent last week to mark Rappeport-Zierler assuming her position. Ahead of the group holding selichot penitential prayers at the wall on Tuesday evening, Rappeport-Zierler added, "We expect that as the rabbi finds time to meet with Madonna and Melania Trump, he will also find time in his busy calendar to meet us - many women, who have been praying at the Western Wall for 31 years and seek to continue praying in the place with complete faith and intent, and in a respectful atmosphere. It is inconceivable that an appointed public official, whose salary is paid by the state, will refuse to meet us."