Fighting broke out between people praying and protestors at a service in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv on Sunday as Yom Kippur began with the Kol Nidrei prayer.
The conflict broke out after some of those praying tried to set up partitions in the square to create gender segregation, which the Tel Aviv municipality and the High Court of Justice had banned.
As the prayer service began, protestors showed up to demonstrate against gender segregation, and the disagreement devolved into fighting.
Similar incidents occurred on Monday when worshippers tried to create gender segregation in public spaces for the prayer service that, marks the end of the holiday.
‘Awful and sad’
“What happened this Yom Kippur is mainly awful and sad,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid in response to the events. “Over the years, this was a day of mutual respect and consideration of each other’s feelings. Whoever wanted to pray separately went to synagogue. Whoever wanted to pray together prayed outside. No one tried to force their Judaism on others.
“This was until Messianic and racist groups from the outside tried to force their Judaism on us. We don’t need instructions from anyone on how to be Jewish. It’s a shame they turned this wonderful and holy day into another Israeli fight.”
Comments are closed.