Women of the Wall

(PSA: I apologise for not posting for so long. I've been having computer issues. I'm leaving for two weeks for a little trip with the group, but when I get back I will upload all the blogs that I have missed.)

This past Rosh Chodesh, my group went to the Kotel to pray with Women of the Wall. It was an extraordinary, and at least for me, incredibly fulfilling, experience. For those of you who don’t know, Women of the Wall is a women’s (although there are men who believe in the cause too) activist group that fights for the religious rights of women, especially surrounding the Kotel. Every month, they go to the Kotel and hold Rosh Chodesh services on the women’s side. They wear tallitot and tefillin, chant from the Torah, and pray out loud with kavana. All those things were, until recently, not allowed at the Kotel… for women. Men are always allowed to dress and do whatever they want there, as long as it’s within the bounds of halakha and respect.

May of last year was the first time that they were legally allowed to go about their business. Before that, members were regularly arrested and assaulted, and the law wasn’t on their side. In fact, last time I was in Israel, I wasn’t allowed to go pray with them because the danger was too great. I had spent most of that year studying them, and I was really disappointed. I think, if I had known how different things are now, I would be both disappointed (that I missed it), and happy for them. After all, this was a big step.

My time with them this past week was brief, because of some traffic issues, but everything I had ever dreamed of. We stood together and prayed loudly and with kavana. It was amazing. I’ve been dreaming of having an experience like this since I first discovered them. I didn’t know all of the tunes, but the ones that I did know, I sang along to with all my heart. There were men who were standing up on the platform behind the railing separating the women’s section who were participating as spiritedly as we were, and that warmed my heart.

Halfway through, some older ladies walked by and told us that our mothers and grandmothers would be ashamed and theirs were rolling in their graves. One of the Jewish History teachers, Ariella, who I happened to be standing near, responded by saying that her grandmother would be proud of her. I know that my grandmothers and mother are proud of me. At the end, I (and a few others) got to talk to Anat Hoffman! She was very nice. While we were chatting, there was a group of Orthodox girls nearby, staring at us and giggling, or sometimes glaring. Anat explained to us that they were curious about us, and how we could do things that the rabbi told them were forbidden. I think they were a little jealous, because they seemed to be curious about what it would be like to do what we were doing. Anat said they were probably confused about why we could, but they couldn’t. She said that this is why the rabbis are so opposed to Women of the Wall; they don’t want their  own women to even think about straying from tradition. It makes sense, I suppose, although one of the biggest points of Judaism (from what I understand) is the importance of curiosity and asking questions. By that logic, the rabbis should be happy that the girls are exploring things like that, but this wouldn’t be the only area in which religion and religious leaders have been corrupted from the original values of the religion.

Religion and corruption are a topic for another day, though. I promise I'll write a blog all about my views on it all at some point, but now I have to go to bed. Lila tov all!