About: Court of the Women

The Court of the Women (Hebrew: עזרת הנשים Ezrat HaNashim or עזרת נשים‎ Ezrat Nashim) was the outer forecourt of the Temples in Jerusalem into which women were permitted to enter. The court was also known as the "middle court", as it stood between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of Israel, i.e. the Court of the Men. The Women's Court existed in the Second Temple, and there are sources which say it existed even in the Tabernacle at Shiloh and in the First Temple. Second Chronicles 20:5 states that King Jehoshaphat stood "... in the house of the Lord before the new court." a court identified by the Talmud as the Court of the Women. In contemporary Synagogues, this term is used for the area allocated to women for the purpose of prayer.