Israeli women's group to defy kaddish ban

JERUSALEM, April 4 (UPI) -- A group challenging the female role in Judaism said Thursday its members will defy a ban on women saying kaddish at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Anat Hoffman, a spokeswoman for Women of the Wall, said the group was especially angry about the timing of the ban, The Jerusalem Post reported.

District Police Chief Yossi Pariente issued the order this week, shortly before the beginning of Iyar, a month that includes Holocaust Remembrance Day and the day of remembrance for Israeli soldiers who have fallen defending the country.

Kaddish is the Jewish mourning prayer. Hoffman called the remembrance days "the days which symbolize more than anything else the unity surrounding the collective fate of the Jewish people."

The Western Wall or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem's Old City is a remnant of the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans.