Women of the Wall at the Kotel
Women of the Wall at the KotelHadas Parush/Flash 90

The Women of the Wall movement filed a request with the Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites and the Israeli police, asking them to allow prayer services at the Western Wall on the upcoming Rosh Hodesh Iyyar, with a limit of up to 19 women, as required by government-approved directives.

Yochi Rappaport, executive director of WOW, said "We will return to pray at the Western Wall at the coming Rosh Hodesh as we have for the past 31 years, except for the last Rosh Hodesh. We hope that the institutions responsible for approving the services will assist us and not create undue and unnecessary hardships in our path."

At the same time last year, Arutz Sheva reported that a special Rosh Hodesh prayer service organized by the Women of the Wall marking the beginning of the Hebrew month of Iyyar drew less than 20 people at the Western Wall in Jerusalem despite hopes by the Reform movement in Israel that hundreds would take part in the service. The previous month, the group hoped to bring out 1,000 supporters, but ended up drawing only a few dozen.