As they do on the first day of every Jewish month, members of Women of the Wall came to pray in the women's section of the Western Wall plaza this morning, wearing tefillin and kippot.
Under the current regulations at the Western Wall plaza, privately owned Torah scrolls may not be brought in from outside. In the past, various attempts have been made to circumvent the restrictions and bring a Torah scroll into the plaza for a Torah reading in the women's section.
This morning, however, the group's members took a different approach: They brought a single sheet of parchment bearing only the Torah reading for Rosh Hodesh and held it aloft during prayers.
The move drew strong objections from thousands of women praying at the site, who said it was intended to provoke and disrupt prayers conducted there according to accepted customs and rules.