Women Are Detained for Wearing Prayer Shawls; Illegal for Women to Wear Them at Western Wall

The Forward (Jewish) website reports that three women were detained today (May 22, 2012) in Jerusalem, after attempting to pray at the Western Wall in Jewish prayer shawls.

The three women -- part of a group of about 40 from the Women of the Wall group -- were praying at the wall this morning as part of their monthly Rosh Chodesh (new month) prayer service.

A policewoman approached one of the women during the service and asked her not to wear the prayer shawl -- or tallit -- the way a man would, and then adjusted it for her. (Men are allowed to wear the prayer shawl loosely, but women must wear it tightly wrapped around their necks.)

Officials wrote down the names and addresses of the three women, as they plan to question them shortly. It is illegal for women to wear phylacteries or a prayer shawl -- or to read from a Torah scroll  -- at the Western Wall under a 2001 Israeli law.