By Linda Gradstein, The Media Line
JERUSALEM—Braving shoves, whistles, and curses, some 500 women from Israel and abroad came to Jerusalem’s Western Wall to pray aloud wearing the shawls and phylacteries traditionally worn by men during prayer. Prohibited from reading aloud from the Torah, the handwritten scroll of the Old Testament, they held empty cloth Torah covers aloft as they sang and chanted.
Every month for the past 25—years, the group’s supporters have come to Judaism’s most holy site to hold the service for Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Hebrew month, which has traditionally holds special significance for women. They have been arrested, attacked with chairs and dirty diapers, cursed at and screamed at, with the most violence coming from ultra-Orthodox women, who view the group’s way of praying aloud as a desecration of the holy site.
Under the banner of “Women-of-the-Wall” (WOW) they are women drawn from the primary sectors of Jewish society—Orthodox, Conservative and Reform—who have been fighting for the right to pray according to their custom at the Western Wall. The issue, which has gone before Israel’s Supreme Court, reflects questions about the relationship between religion and state.
This time, as they came to usher in the Hebrew month in which the festival of Chanukah falls, both members of WOW and the police came prepared. The police surrounded the large group of WOW women and their supporters praying in the back half of the women’s section at the Wall, forming a human wedge between them and the ultra-Orthodox women — many of whom were urged to show up in order to disrupt WOW’s activities. The plaza in front of the Wall where people pray is run according to the same customs as are found in an Orthodox synagogue: divided between men and women with a large metal barrier separating the two sections.
Despite the divisions, there were some confrontations among the women.
“You are a hater of Israel and all Jews,” one older woman, her hair covered with a blue kerchief screamed at the worshippers. “You are desecrating our holiest place.”
She then went on to loudly chant verses from Psalms including “shut the mouths of our enemies” and “the day of judgment will come.”
“Go pray in a mosque,” one of the dozens of young ultra-Orthodox girls, yelled at the women praying.
None of the women opposing the WOW participants was willing to speak to the media.
On the men’s side, a rabbi used loudspeakers to try to drown out the women’s prayer until police eventually convinced the men to turn the speakers off.
Most of the WOW women ignored the heckling, responding only by singing more loudly. But it clearly had an impact on some of them.
“I have a sense of frustration and sadness,” said Rabbi Susan Silverman, an adoption expert and the sister of comedienne Sarah Silverman. “There are some Jews who believe they hold the sole truth. I need to let go and let God.”
Silverman and her 17-year-old daughter Hallel were arrested earlier this year for donning prayer shawls at the Western Wall. In the wake of the arrest, a Jerusalem district court judge ruled that a woman wearing prayer a shawl is not violating “local custom.” However, the rabbi of the Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, ruled that the women are not allowed to read from the Torah at the site.
According to organizers, some 100 women came from abroad specifically for the prayer service.
“I feel like I’m part of something historic,” Cantor Sheri Allen, from Congregation Beth Shalom in Texas told The Media Line. “I’ve never been to Israel before, and I planned my trip around this. I feel like it will be one of the highlights of my life.”
WOW Chairperson Anat Hoffman, who has led the struggle since the beginning, was moved that her brother had come to support her for the first time. There were about 100 men standing behind the women, and praying with them in support.
“This should have been solved a long time ago,” Hoffman told The Media Line. “But at the same time, this is one of the most successful cooperative efforts between Israel and Diaspora Jews. It is also a great testament to sisterhood and we have been a catalyst for change.”
Recently, there have been sharp divisions within the group. Hoffman led the board in a decision to accept, in principle, a government compromise for women to pray at an alternative site nearby, if a series of conditions are met. Israeli cabinet minister Naftali Bennett recently inaugurated a mixed-prayer area near the Wall, which would allow men and women to pray together. Hoffman has called that site a “sundeck” and said it is not acceptable.
Cheryl Birkner-Mack, a board member of WOW, resigned over the decision to accept an alternative site.
“I disagreed with the decision to even consider leaving the women’s section,” she told The Media Line. “We want to pray at the site of national and religious significance to Jews all over the world, not someplace else.”
A rival group that opposes women praying aloud at the Wall, Women-for-the-Wall, also came to protest and found themselves caught between the worshippers and the angry ultra-Orthodox counter-protestors.
“I think Women-of-the-Wall is a desecration of God’s name, but so are all of the ultra-Orthodox screaming at them,” Ronit Peskin, one of the group’s founders told The Media Line. “The Women-of-the-Wall are a minority and they are trying to impose their will over a majority. That’s called a dictatorship.’
Yet overall, many of the women said they felt a sense of celebration and success.
“I am full of joy for the first time in many months,” Lesley Sachs, the director of Women-of-the-Wall told The Media Line. “It’s 25 years of believing in something, through good times and bad times. When we started, many of us weren’t even married or had no children. Today, we’re grandmothers. I feel like we are really making a difference here.|