A number of protestors interfered with the Yom Kippur prayers held by the Tzohar rabbinical organization at Habima Square in Tel Aviv during Ne'ilah, the closing prayer of Yom Kippur. The protest came in addition to another disturbance at the public prayer service at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square
After repeated interruptions, it was decided to move the prayer to the parking lot of the house of one of the organizers. The organizers of the prayer pointed out that it was the non-religious worshipers who asked the protesters to leave, but were refused.
Tzohar responded to the events in Tel Aviv describing them as “painful to witness but very much the exception to the rule of what most Israelis experienced over Yom Kippur.”
“While these events leave us feeling saddened and pained, we believe that they must be viewed as fringe events. The vast majority of Israelis, both religious and secular, were able to commemorate the day in a spirit of holiness, and that healthy majority has no interest in forging any battles with fellow Jews. That spirit of togetherness is what we saw in the hundreds of Tzohar programs all over Israel that were carried out in a spirit of unity and our people’s common destiny.”
“With the deeply unfortunate exception of what occurred in Tel Aviv, the people of Israel were blessed to enjoy a Yom Kippur defined by those ideals of unity and holiness. This is what deserves to be in the headlines and what should really be remembered at the end of this day.”