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ORTHODOX RABBI ATTACKS MEMBERS OF
REFORM SYNAGOGUE IN JERUSALEM DURING
SIMCHAT TORAH SERVICE AND SNATCHES
TORAH
FROM THE ARMS OF WOMEN CONGREGANTS
Some years ago, during the morning prayers on Shimchat Torah, at the Kol Haneshama, a Reform Synagogue in the Ba'Ka neighborhood of Jerusalem, the local Orthodox Rabbi and a group of his male followers burst in, cursed and tore the torah scrolls from the arms of women congregants during the traditional dancing with the torah ceremony. Rabbi Levy Kalman, determinedly led his congregation in resisting the physical attacks on them and eventually, quietly, convinced the attacking Rabbi and his followers to leave. The following day, when Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzchak Eliyahu was asked by Israel Radio as to whether or not there is religious freedom in Israel, replied "Certainly there is religious freedom for Moslems and Christians, but for Jews only the Orthodox way of religious observance is allowed"