Woman arrested for wearing tallit at Western Wall

Jerusalem police arrested a woman praying at the Western Wall for wearing a tallit.

The woman, who was participating in Rosh Chodesh services, was arrested Wednesday based on an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that the public must dress according to the customs of the site, Israel Radio reported.

Police came to the site after the Women of the Wall group asked to read from a Torah scroll, according to reports. The group usually holds its services at Robinson’s Arch, located near the Wall.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the Western Wall rabbi, called the group’s actions Wednesday “an act of provocation that seeks to turn the Western Wall into disputed territory,” according to reports.

The chairwoman of the women’s group, Anat Hoffman, said it was the first time that a woman has been arrested at the Western Wall for donning a tallit. She identified the arrested woman as Nofrat Frenkel, a medical student from Beersheba.