WomenoftheWall

I hope you enjoy that pun of a title, but if we were to take it seriously, don’t women in general want what the Women of the Wall, an organization that advocates for women’s rights to pray at the Kotel, desire? The mission of Women of the Wall is one inspired by equality, choice, and equal opportunity.

For years now, Israel has been routinely condemned by the United Nations for trying to defend herself; a veritable public relations hailstorm has been unleashed against the only Jewish state.

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.

Last Friday, Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 153 women found it in themselves to get up early on a wretched, rainy, and … Read more

Since moving to Israel in July, I have had the distinct pleasure of participating in some of my first bouts of political activism and other protest-like demonstrations. This past Friday, I stood at the Kotel and wore a tallit and a kippah (and it is strictly forbidden for women to wear tallitot at the wall).