Women of the Wall

Today I read an article that made me think about the religious struggle of women in modern Judaism. The article, published in Forward, was written by Anat Hoffman who is the director of the Israel Religious Action Center of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and the chair of Women of the Wall. Women of the Wall is an organization that promotes and encourages women to pray at the Kotel.

Her article deals with Jewish women’s desire to freely pray at the Kotel. The Kotel is popularly known as the Western Wall and as the Wailing Wall. The word “Kotel” is a Hebrew word meaning “Wall.” The Western Wall is one of the most important Jewish religious sites in Israel because it was part of the Temple complex. For this reason, the Kotel has become for Jews, a place for prayer and for reading the Torah.

Although women can pray at the Kotel, men and women cannot pray together. When people come to pray, there is a men’s and women’s section at the Wall. Women of the Wall has been gathering at the Kotel to pray every Rosh Hodesh, the first day of the month, since 1988. However, Women of the Wall have encountered strong opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jews who pray at the Western Wall.

Recently, an Israeli woman was arrested for wearing her prayer shawl visibly in the women’s section of the Kotel. When the case came to court, Women of the Wall agreed that they would wear their prayer shawls under their coats and not read from the Torah in the area of the Kotel. Hoffman’s article deals with women’s struggle to pray at the Kotel. The following is an excerpt from the article:

One recent afternoon, while I was riding on a gender-segregated bus in Jerusalem, an Orthodox woman told me she didn’t mind sitting in back and out of sight, because it helped the men “keep cleanliness of the eyes.” Her reasoning was familiar to me; it followed a logic similar to the rationale behind a men-only path at the Western Wall that was cleared just two years ago so that men would not have to look upon women as they make their way to the Kotel to pray. It’s no coincidence that Jerusalem’s first gender-segregated buses were for routes going to and from the Wall.

If you want a quick lesson on the growing gender segregation and discrimination in Israel, I suggest taking a look at the policies in place at the Western Wall, which are being constantly revised to deny women equal access at this sacred space. Things have changed tremendously in my 21 years of going to pray with Women of the Wall every Rosh Hodesh.

Women of the Wall is sometimes accused of protesting against the “status quo” at the Western Wall. In fact, there is no status quo at the Wall — things change all the time. Men and women used to enter the Western Wall plaza together through the Jewish Quarter’s Dung Gate; in 1994, separate, gender-segregated entrances were created. Within the past decade, women soldiers were still allowed to sing the national anthem during ceremonies at the Wall — now they are instructed to be content with mouthing the words.

Simply put, our goal is to obtain the freedom to pray and to do everything that is halachically permitted for women on the women’s side of the mechitza. This includes reciting prayers together that do not require a minyan, and, yes, most of all, it includes reading from the Torah. (Though it has been many years since we have been able to read from the Torah in the women’s section at the Wall.) At a minimum, we want to be allowed to pray at the Wall for one hour each month, free of injury and fear. This should not be a provocative request.

You can read the article in its entirety here

Hoffman concludes her article by saying the Women of the Wall are inspired by the words of Mordecai to Esther. Mordecai told Esther not to keep silent at a time when the Jewish people faced a mortal danger at the hands of Haman. As a result, Esther and Mordecai were able to unite the people as they prayed in support of Esther. Hoffman writes: “The antidote to silence is action; we are now turning to the whole Jewish world, men and women alike, to help us reclaim the Wall for all Jews.”

May the Women of the Wall find in the Kotel a place where they can pray, read the Torah, and sing their praises to God without the fear of violence and retaliation from those who want to segregate women for fear that the presence of women desecrates sacred places.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Kotel, Western Wall, Women of the Wall

Barack Obama’s Prayer to God

Arutz Sheva is reporting that the publication of the prayer Barack Obama left in the Kotel (the Jewish name given to the Western Wall in Jerusalem) was a PR stunt. The publication of the prayer has caused a furor in Israel.

Here is an excerpt of the article publish in Arutz Sheva:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign seems to have purposely leaked the contents of the note that he placed in the Kotel, web magazine Israel Insider wrote Tuesday. While Israel's Hebrew newspaper Maariv came under fire for publishing the note, "it now appears that Maariv had collaborated with the Obama campaign in getting the 'private' prayer, with its 'modest' supplication to the Lord, out to the public, buffing his Christian credentials and showing his "humility," the web magazine said.

Last Friday, on the morrow of Obama's visit to the Kotel, Maariv published a close-up picture of the note written by Obama to G-d, supposedly after a yeshiva boy took it from the crack between the Kotel stones in which Obama deposited it. Maariv's competitor Yediot Acharonot slammed the paper for violating Obama's privacy.

In a statement issued following the public outcry over the leak, Maariv said that "Barack Obama's note was approved for publication in the international media even before he put it in the Kotel, a short time after he wrote it at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem." A third newspaper, Haaretz, quoted Maariv as saying that "Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem."

Apparently unaware that the leaking of the note was coordinated by the Obama campaign and Maariv, Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz called the publication a "sacrilegious action" which "deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site." He stated: "Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way. The custom of placing notes between the stones of the Western Wall is ancient and is used as a means of expression by a person praying to his Creator."

If this report is true and Obama’s prayer was a PR stunt, then, I have to conclude that he forgot the words of Christ:

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:5-6).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

UPDATE:

Zvika Krieger, in a blog posted in The New Republic said that the story is false. I want to thank Iyov for calling my attention to this update. However, I have read and heard others say that the prayer was made public for political purpose. After you watch the YouTube video above, you must decide whether the release of the prayer was politically motivated.

Tags: Barack Obama, Kotel, Prayer, Wailing Wall