Another Shameful Arrest of Woman at Western Wall

On Monday, the media reported the arrest of Anat Hoffman for carrying a Torah scroll at the Western Wall.

The media has reported today on the arrest of Anat Hoffman for carrying a Torah scroll at the Western Wall.  If the media reports are accurate then this is a very sad day for the Jewish people.

According to Orthodox Jewish law, women are permitted to carry a Torah scroll. (For example, in 1972 Rabbi Shlomo Riskin received support from both the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik when he allowed women in his congregation, Lincoln Square Synagogue, to dance with the Torah scroll on Simchat Torah.)  Thus, Anat Hoffman was not in violation of Jewish law.

The fact that she was arrested for this "crime" of holding a Torah at the Western Wall would not be tolerated if it was in Communist Russia or repressive Iran, and it should similarly not be tolerated when it happens in the Jewish state.

I know the Israeli police who guard the Western Wall to be moral, righteous, brave and holy individuals. For this reason, I especially encourage them never to do something like this again.