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ttorney General Avichai Mandelblit has issued a precedent-setting order meant to halt the confrontational, often violent behavior of Women of the Wall at the Kosel.

Israel’s Supreme Court has yet to render an opinion on the flood of appeals regarding non-Orthodox groups at the holy site, after the outline for egalitarian prayer at the Southern Wall was canceled. Until the court hands down a ruling, Women of the Wall have been allocated a temporary spot on the right side of the upper plaza, in an area cordoned off by police. Due to the violent behavior on the part of some of the women on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, six restraining orders were issued against the heads of the group, prohibiting them from approaching the Kosel Plaza.

In the document released last week, Mandelblit warned WOW that they won’t be allowed to leave their designated area to pray in the regular ezras nashim, since they disturb the other women who have come to pray there. In the event that public order is disrupted, WOW will be forcibly removed from the area altogether.

Following Mandelblit’s order, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’s legal advisor, Chagai Avrahami, sent missives to WOW leaders, clarifying the instructions given by the Attorney General, and calling on them to preserve public order and to exhibit appropriate conduct if they want to continue praying at the site. A similar message was also sent to the counter-organization, Women for the Wall, with the goal of preventing them from being dragged into provocations by anti-religious provocateurs, causing an even greater commotion and harming the sanctity of the site. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 715)