A Jewish prayer gathering took place at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Wednesday morning as part of World Tefillin Day.
The event this year coincides with Tu B’av, celebrated in modern Israel as a holiday of love, but with ancient roots, dating back to the Temple period in Jerusalem when it marked the start of the grape harvest.
A group of left-wing agitators tried to disrupt the prayer session in protest against what they said was “religion in the public space” and the Orthodox rules for the event separating men and women. The demonstrators placed women in the men’s section, among other violations.
Tefillin are two small black leather boxes containing passages from the Torah, and are traditionally worn by Jewish men during morning prayers—one on the head and one on the arm.
On Tuesday night, thousands of Jews visited Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus) to pray for the recovery of the six people wounded in the terror attack earlier in the day in Ma’ale Adumim, 4.3 miles east of Jerusalem in Judea.
“Only a hold here, on Joseph’s Tomb, will be able to bring security,” said Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan.