“There is nothing Jewish about cursing, throwing stones and hurling bags of urine” — thus says new Knesset member Michal Rozin of the Meretz party. Together with about 300 women, all members of the “Women of the Wall” organization, Rozin participated last week [May 10] in the monthly Rosh Hodesh prayer service in the Western Wall square, for the new Jewish month of Sivan.

Rozin, together with her fellow fighters Tamar Zandberg (Meretz party) and Stav Shaffir (Labor party), emerged unscathed from the prayer service that was conducted with a police escort, but descended into a violent episode when thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews tried to stop the women by hurling chairs, pouring liquids and throwing stones.

What sparked the recent conflict at the Wall between the ultra-Orthodox and the women was the ruling of the Jerusalem District Court on April 25, stating that women must be allowed to pray in the central prayer site freely and without limitations. The Women of the Wall have been struggling for 24 years on behalf of their right to pray at the site that is considered holy in Judaism, while wrapping themselves in prayer shawls (tallit) and donning phylacteries (tefillin). The court ruling is an important landmark in the annals of this conflict, a conflict that usually remains in the margins of what is considered newsworthy. Sometimes it is even perceived as a “provocation of left-wing secular women.”

To avert a worsening of the violence, efforts are being currently made to come to a compromise. At the center of these efforts stands Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, who also dons the hat of Religious Services Minister and toils to create special regulations that will facilitate women’s prayer in the spirit of the court. But as expected, Bennett came under immediate suspicion of the Women of the Wall and their supporters, due to three factors: that he wears a kippah [religious skullcap], that he has right-wing political affiliations, and his gender. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni also jumped into the mess and announced to Bennett that as justice minister, she has no intention of authorizing the regulations he is trying to set up against the stance of the court.