Yesterday the leaders of the Reform Movement in Israel and the U.S. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deal to expand the egalitarian prayer plaza at Robinson’s Arch. Less than a year ago, on the day I was viciously stomped in the stomach at the Kotel, a friend cynically asked: “Why did you put yourself…
(JTA) – On the morning of Dec. 1, 1988, a group of about 70 Jewish women entered the sacred space of the Western Wall. The women represented all the major streams of Judaism. Some wore prayer shawls or kippahs. Some did not. One woman cradled a Torah in her arms. Together, their voices rose in…
Huddled in the cold rain at the women’s section of the Western Wall Plaza, Anat Hoffman, veteran leader of Women of the Wall, removed her jacket, rolled up her long sleeves, and put on tefillin (phylacteries) for the first time in her life. Although she has been fighting for the right of women to pray…
As a member of Women of the Wall for more than 20 years, and as part of the group’s negotiating team, I believe that the creation of a third section of the Kotel sets a strong precedent in women’s status in Israel: women as administrators of a holy site, women as leaders, women as an…
Many are celebrating the official setting aside and expansion of a part of Jerusalem’s Western Wall for non-traditional public prayer. I’m not among them. Over nearly 50 years, the Kotel has been the only place in the world where Jews of all sorts — black-hatted and hair-covered Haredim, National-Religious, Reform and Conservative and agnostic —…
I am one of the Original Women of the Wall; you have been hearing about us for over two decades now. We are the ones who have not veered away from our single goal, fulfilling a pristine and realizable vision of the late Rivka Haut: to pray together according to our customs as Jewish women…
The new plan to create a larger, official egalitarian space at the Western Wall is a compromise of a compromise. In all the celebration, we can’t lose sight of that. Those who believe in promoting and protecting pluralistic Judaism in Israel have every right to proclaim victory — a rare emotion after years of increasingly…
When I woke to the news about the new policy for the Kotel, I was surprised to see so many of my friends celebrating. I suppose I should be, too: I’ve been wearing tefillin since I was bat mitzvahed over a decade ago. In that time, I have been to Israel twice, first with my…
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