Day 36 - Women of the Wall

When both my sons had their Bar Mitzvahs, I had the honor of being called to read from the Torah.  To which, I donned a prayer shawl, sang the appropriate blessings over the Torah, and began chanting the biblical verses, using the same ancient melody that's been used for thousands of years.  For me, this was an incredible spiritual event and milestone.  My rabbi said my being called to the Torah, was the equivalent of having my own Bat Mitzvah.  Little did I know, that if I had done the same thing at the Western Wall, I would have been arrested.

The Western Wall is under the control of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel.  As such, that means Orthodox Jews call the shots.  While Orthodox Jews are very devout and pious, they also believe in a division - physically and spiritually - between men and women.  When you attend Shabbat services at an Orthodox synagogue, men sit on one side of the room, while women sit on the other.  They even place a barrier between the two sexes, so that the men are not distracted in their prayers.

At the Western Wall, a similar division takes place between men and women.  There is a men's side and a women's side.  Which means that when a Bar Mitzvah ceremony takes place at the Western Wall, women are not permitted to attend - even the mother of the boy!  Sadly, the discrimination of women doesn't end there.  Women who pray at the Western Wall are barred from wearing religious garments (such as a prayer shawl), or reading from the Torah.

It was only two years ago that Anat Hoffman was arrested, fined $1300, and received a thirty day ban from the Western Wall, for the "crime" of  just carrying a Torah.  Isn't that incredible?  The newspapers referred to her as an "Israeli Feminist" - as if it that phrase contained dirty words.

The courageous Ms. Hoffman is the leader of a group in Israel called "Women of the Wall".  Their mission is to seek religious equality for women.  They are not trying to take down the physical barriers that exist between men and women at the Wall.  Instead, they merely want women to have the right to pray the way men do. 

As an American Jewish women, I am feel great empathy for my Israeli sisters.  Living here in the United States, I am free to practice my religion with no restrictions.  It's hard for me to believe that just because I am a woman - when I go to Israel - I am going to lose some of my religious rights.

This all seems to be in direct contradiction with the ideas upon Israel was founded upon - to be a free people in our own land.  How have Jews attained religious freedom when half the population (i.e. the women) are not afforded the same religious rights as men?

This is the first disturbing thing I have discovered about Israel.  I can now understand why the Orthodox Jews and the Secular Jews don't see eye-to-eye on so many things.