In Our Own Voices

And then the Haredi group came along with their loud and cacophonous prayers and totally interrupted my kavvanah (focus). I have to say, the women sounded a lot better!

Noa Raz, a Conservative Jew in her early thirties who lives and works in Tel Aviv, was physically assaulted early Tuesday morning by an ultra-Orthodox man at the Central Bus Station in Be’er Sheva for having the imprints of tefillin (phylacteries) lines visible on her arms.

Last Tuesday, I went to a holy place, to daven with a holy community at a holy time – Rosh Chodesh Nissan. I had heard of the Women of the Wall and had the desire to experience their Tefilot, just as I had been exploring Tefilah all over Israel this year. When I arrived at the Kotel, I went to the Womens section and took a moment, as I do every time I visit, to appreciate the historic significance of my ability to stand freely at the Kotel.

Police make all the difference By Devorah Singer Police make all the difference in the world. Remember my first trip … Read more

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).

The atmosphere at the Kotel, the feeling that all those women praying around me were also turning to God and pouring out their hearts to Him, inspires me with the joy of Jewish fraternity. Here is one place in which, shoulder to shoulder, all the hearts are calling to God.