"This is a very serious matter. They have gone completely mad. They want to enter through the
back door, but it won't happen. They cannot come with tallit and tefillin, it's as simple as that. We will not
let them do it; they will not defile the place.
It is very bad that the police and courts are defending them. The public
does not agree to this. It is not democracy, it is democtatorship. If
they are Jewish women and not an erev rav [mixed multitude of
troublesome non-Jewish people] of all stripes and colors, then let them
come and pray like everyone [else]…"
Widow Of Former Chief Rabbi And Terrorist Urges All Jews To Prevent Women Of The Wall From “Desecrating” The Holy Site
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The widow of former Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu told Arutz Sheva yesterday that Orthodox and haredi Jews will not allow Women of the Wall to “desecrate” the Kotel (Western Wall) with their non-Orthodox style of prayer.
"This is a very serious matter,” Rabbanit Tzviya Eliyahu told Arutz Sheva.”They have gone completely mad. They want to enter through the back door, but it won't happen. They cannot come with tallit [prayer shawl] and tefillin [phylacteries], it's as simple as that. We will not let them do it; they will not defile the place [by praying as men do]. It is very bad that the police and courts are defending them. The public does not agree to this. It is not democracy, it is democtatorship.
"If they are Jewish women and not an erev rav [mixed multitude of troublesome non-Jewish people] of all stripes and colors, then let them come and pray like everyone [i.e., like the Orthodox and haredi women], but without tallit and tefillin.…
“Today they have one foot here and tomorrow they have the other foot there. If they come with tallit and tefillin and this kind of nonsense, it is just a provocation. We do not accept this. The Kotel is a holy place and there is no room in it for Reformism or Reformists,” Rabbanit Eliyahu insisted, reemphasizing that Women of the Wall must be prevented from praying at the Kotel like men, wearing tallit and tefillin, even though Israel’s courts have ruled that Women of the Wall have the legal right to do so.
As a young man, Rabbanit Eliyahu’s late husband was convicted of trying to spark a revolt against the government of Israel in an attempt to force the government to adopt halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) as the law of the country, much in the way many Muslim jihadists want Egypt and other predominantly Muslim countries to adopt sharia law.
In 1950-51, Eliyahu was a leader of Brit HaKanaim (Covenant of the Zealots) terrorist underground.
Brit HaKanaim burned cars of Jewish drivers who drove on Shabbat, burned down butcher shops whose owners sold non-kosher meat, and plotted widespread anti-government and anti-secular violence and mayhem.
On May 14, 1951 Brit HaKanaim's members were arrested by the Israel’s secret police, the Shabak, just hours before they planned to throw a grenade into Israel’s parliament the Knesset, which was convening to decide whether Orthodox Jewish women should be drafted into Israel’s army. Eliyahu and his fellow Brit HaKanaim members opposed drafting these women, viewing their draft as a violation of Jewish law.
Eliyahu was convicted for plotting the grenade attack and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. (At the time, the then three-year-old state believed reconciliation with dissidents and rebels was more important than punishing them.)
Eliyahu served his time and was released.
Just over seven years later, in 1960 he was elected to serve as Israel’s youngest rabbinic court judge.
After that he was elected as the Chief Rabbi of Beersheva and from there went on to be elected to the state’s Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.
Then Eliyahu was elected Israel’s Sefardi chief rabbi, serving in that position for ten years, from 1983 to 1993.
From 1993 through early June 2010, he was the leading rabbi of West Bank Jewish settlers and of Israel’s Zionist Orthodox right wing.
Eliyahu passed away three years ago today, on June 7, 2010.
He never apologized for his terrorist acts.