Women for the Wall

The conservative Women for the Wall, sometimes abbreviated as W4W, is a grassroots organization founded in April 2013, concerned with preserving Jewish tradition at the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel.^[1][2] The catalyst for the founding of Women for the Wall was lack of representation for the stand of traditional Jewish women in the controversy surrounding an alternative prayer group known as Women of the Wall (WoW). In the months leading to the establishment of W4W, Women of the Wall demanded to hold their services in the traditional women's section, rather than the Robinson's Arch area of the Kotel, where alternative prayer services are held.^[3] The number of women who pray at Women of the Wall (WoW) services has been estimated to be between 50 and 180.^[4]

History

W4W was founded in April 2013 by Ronit Peskin, Leah Aharoni, and Jenni Menashe. Their first event was held on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the Hebrew month of) Sivan (10 May 2013) with some 5,000–7,000 Jewish women praying traditionally, filling up Kotel plaza, and outnumbering the WoW group.^[5] On 6 June 2013, Women for the Wall founders Ronit Peskin and Leah Aharoni explained their views at Media Central in a press conference, followed by a briefing from Women of the Wall members.^[2][6]

In 2013 the Government of Israel considered for the first time changing its policy towards endorsing traditional forms of prayer for women at the Western Wall, Judaism holiest site. This opened up a debate in the Israeli media and the diaspora on the nature of the Government's role at the site, and whether the site itself was under public or religious jurisdiction.

Rationale

The founders of Women for the Wall claim a need for their organization for reasons that fall into various categories.

Sanctity and authority

Alternative prayer groups including Women of the Wall have challenged the notion that the Western Wall has sanctity, stating that the Kotel is primarily a public place, and "just a wall".^[1][7][8][9] They have stated that the Kotel should be turned into a national monument and that traditional prayer services, which currently function 24 hours a day, seven days a week, should be limited to three hours each morning; men who pray traditionally should be barred from the Kotel as follows: "For six hours a day the Wall will be a national monument, open to others but not to Orthodox men"^[10] Their goal is to take authority over religious places away from the Rabbinate and grant it to the secular court system,^[11][12][13] as occurred in April 2013 when a secular court overruled the Rabbinate and allowed WoW into the traditional section.^[14][15] Anat Hoffman said on Israel's Channel 2: "I definitely see that the day will come when people will tell you: You know what? There was a time ... no, you don't remember this, but there was a time when there used to be a mechitzah here all the time! You don't believe it...."^[16]

Based on the compromise set forth by the Israeli High Court of Justice in 2003, alternative prayer groups function at the Robinson's Arch section.^[3][17] Leah Aharoni writes, "The Israeli High Court suggested a compromise allowing WoW to pray just a few feet down the same exact wall at what is called Robinson's Arch, and the Israeli government invested $2.5 million in repairing the site, a generous move considering the group's minuscule size. WoW has rejected the solution."^[8] Women Of the Wall (WoW) spokeswomen have stated that they wish to relocate from the Robinson's Arch section to the traditional women's section in order to influence traditional women to join the WoW group, demand changes from their rabbis, remove the mechitza (separation between women and men) for most of the day, transfer authority over religious sites from the Rabbinate to secular courts,^[12] and make changes in Israeli society concerning marriage, divorce, conversion and burial.^[16][18][19]

Political activism at the Western Wall

Women for the Wall opposed the use of the Kotel for political activism, since it is a place of consensus both in Israeli society and for Diaspora Jewry.^[7] Although the WoW group has been in existence for 25 years, its recent catapult into world-wide fame has been theorized as due to the Israeli left seeking a cause celebre to use as leverage against the Israeli leadership and public: "this (leftist) elite is longing for some outside force 'who will limit the powers of the elected political leadership we loathe', because the left 'has lost the ability to act within the parameters of democracy and absorb the principle of majority rule'."^[20] This has fomented discussion concerning the contrast between activism, in which a small minority of vocal activists attempt to change society, versus democracy, which promotes majority rule; and on the role that secular courts play in religious issues: "... disputes over religion-state relationships have increasingly been played out in the judicial sphere, with social activists attempting to effectuate change ... through the courts."^[21] Leah Aharoni has said, "It's unthinkable for a small group to upset tradition against the overwhelming majority."^[22]

Women of the Wall spokeswomen have declared that traditional Judaism is controlled by rabbis and that alternative prayer in the traditional women's section will result in traditional women demanding change from their rabbis,^[19] and that they wish to "tempt" traditional women into arguments during times of prayer.^[23] Onlookers have claimed that both women and men's prayer have been disrupted by WoW.^[24] On Friday, 4 October, Women of the Wall's chazzanit [female cantor] used a microphone to lead the WoW group in loud singing, allegedly disturbing the services of 15,000 worshippers.^[25] Rabbi Susan Silverman, a WoW supporter, admitted that she and her daughter provoked the police in order to get arrested at the Kotel.^[26] Women for the Wall founders have requested that those who synpathize with the political aims of WoW should take their efforts to government bodies and not to Judaism's holiest site^[27][28]

In November 2013 it was revealed by journalist Rachel Avraham that WoW leaders are active in the following political groups: Sikkuy, a signator to the Haifa Declaration, which among other activities calls for abolishing the state of Israel and supports violent resistance; the left-wing groups Adalah, Ir Amin, Yesh Din, and Mossawa Center; Al Aqsa Grassroots, which opposes the Judaization of Jerusalem and supports the Palestinian right of return to Israel proper – within the green armistice line of 1967; Women in Black, which advocates giving all of Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem – which includes the area of the Western Wall, or Kotel – to the Palestinian Authority. In light of the participation of WoW leaders in these and other related political groups, WoW spokeswoman Shira Pruce stated that WoW members "... come from all walks of life, political opinions, and Jewish denominations." She states in the comments section of Jerusalem Online that these accusations are slander and libel. She states that members of WoW are patriotic, serve in the army, and pay taxes; another WoW member states in the comments section that some live in settlements over the 1967 armistice green line.^[29][30][31] The article exposing WoW's links to these groups first appeared on Jerusalem Online. Shortly after, it disappeared, and then reappeared on The Jewish Press. It has been postulated that the article's disappearance is due to Avraham's claim that "Women of the Wall continues to threaten news publications that have the audacity to present these facts to the public."^[32]

Attitude towards sacred objects

Women for the Wall supporters note that the use of religious objects involves a level of religious commitment that is not evident among the members of alternative prayer groups.^[33] To don tefillin and demand use of the Torah scroll^[34] by those who are publicly admitting that they do not keep the commandments written therein is at best problem of conscience, and at worst a desecration of holy items.^[35] Alternative prayer groups have been filmed provoking traditionalists,^[24] blowing kisses at traditional men with the support of Women of the Wall chairwomen Anat Hoffman,^[36] shouting, waving their prayer books in the air, and bringing television crews to film their activities; this is seen as further provocation.^[37]

Alternative Jewish prayer groups and their attitude towards traditional women

Susan Aronoff, one of the founders of WoW, praised Haredi women's prayer, saying, "The women of WoW also benefit from proximity to haredi women at prayer. Hearing haredi women cry to God, praise God, and address God in the direct and personal way they know how to do so well, uplifts others.".^[19] However, in the same article, she admits to the provocative nature of the WoW group, stating, "Like it or not the sights and sounds of women leading services may initially shock them (traditional women)" and that this will lead traditional women to make changes in religious practice. One supporter of WoW writes that traditional women "mouth their words silently" when they pray, and thus think they are holier than others.

Members of Women of the Wall have declined invitations to meet with leaders of Women for the Wall,^[6][38] stated that traditional women are following orders from male rabbis and politicians and not acting of their own accord,^{[39][40][41][42]} have threatened the founders of Women for the Wall with a lawsuit,^[1] have referred to a founder of Women for the Wall a "feisty", which derives from a German word meaning small dog and is almost always used in reference to women, and which the WoW Facebook page states as "honestly exposing WOW's 'opposition'",^[43] have stated that Haredi women do not know Jewish law regarding prayer,^[44] and that orthodox Judaism is "repulsive".^[28] One member of WOW stated that at the Kotel she would like to "choose a potential victim to argue with"^[23] referring to her desire to argue with a traditional teenage girl.

Shira Pruce, spokeswomen for Women of the Wall (WoW), stated on 6 June when the Women for the Wall group convened, WoW works 100 percent in the framework of Jewish law.... We are not violating the Torah, and this is not a halachic issue, which numerous prominent rabbis have agreed with. The Western Wall is not an ultra-Orthodox synagogue, it's a public place – a very important, historic, holy place – but first and foremost, it's public." Pruce maintained WoW's legal right to pray as they choose at the Wall, and advised members of Women for the Wall to pray at private synagogues if they view their freedom of religion as offensive.^[45] She stated on 7 July, the day before Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the Hebrew month) of Av that she truly welcomes traditional women at the Kotel.^[46] The next day stated, "The women's section was full of seminary students bussed in for the purpose of blocking out Women of the Wall".^[47] An article in The Forward stated of the Rosh CHodesh Av gathering, "... the biggest group on hand that morning was a crowd of some 5,000 to 7,000 young women standing silently in the women's prayer area ... Filling the women's section and spilling out into the wider plaza, the girls each prayed on their own. When they were done, they left without raising their voices."^[48]

One of the founders of Women of the Wall (WoW), Phylis Chesler, compares traditional Jewish women to women who "perform female genital mutilation, murder their daughter-in-laws for their dowries...." She refers to the presence of thousands of seminary girls praying traditionally as "hostile hatred".^[41] WoW spokeswomen have made analogies between the police protection they receive and being led into a ghetto – this Holocaust analogy has been decried even by WoW supporters.^[35]

Rabbi Eliana Yolkut states that accepting the Robinson's Arch section for prayer services would be accepting second class status. "I, a Women of the Wall sympathizer, am not trying to 'liberate' you as an Orthodox Jew, but raise my status from second class to equal.... We are trying to liberate Judaism from the ties of an Orthodox hegemony."^[12] Anat Hoffman, head of the WoW group, has stated that praying in the Robinson's Arch section is like being relegated to the back of the bus, that if the Robinson's Arch area is so holy, the traditional women would be clamoring to pray there, and that she wants be in the traditional women's section in order to "see and be seen."^[49]

Ronit Peskin and Leah Aharoni, founders of Women for the Wall, challenge the idea that traditional women merely follow orders and subjugated.^[50] Leah Aharoni states that rejecting the traditional feminine experience of Judaism is itself misogynous: "There is nothing more demeaning to women than positioning the traditionally male experience as the only one worth living and setting up women for an ongoing game of catch-up." She goes on to say that Judaism in fact validates and empowers women.^[50] She points out the essential difference between traditional and alternative forms of Judaism: traditional Jews believe that the Torah is a divine document, not invented or controlled by rabbis, whereas members of alternative Jewish groups do not believe in the divinity of the Torah and thus feel that Jewish practice can be changed on demand.^[51] Sara Conway, neuropsychologist and mother of four, states that traditional women do indeed think for themselves and make autonomous decisions, "It is my personal belief that Torah Judaism, including its belief in separate but complementary gender roles and a more spiritually inward role for women, is the best choice for me and my family."^[52][53]

Women For The Wall's attitude toward alternative prayer

Founders of Women for the Wall have stated that they support alternative prayer at the Robinson's Arch section of the Kotel.^[6] They have requested meetings with leaders of Women of the Wall, who have declined.^[38] W4W leaders state that their objection is to the imposition of alternative prayer and associated political agendas on traditional women, plus their desire to confront and shock them, at Judaism's holiest site .^[2] "Don't forget, Women FOR the Wall is not asking you to change. They are asking you not to change them."^[54] Ronit Peskin has stated concerning traditional women, "We want to come and pray peacefully, and you (The Women of the Wall group that insist on praying in the traditional women's section and not at Robinson's Arch) are disrupting the prayers of other women around you."^[1] Leaders of W4W have condemned any show of verbal or phsycal violence by orthodox Jews against WoW and their supporters.^[48][54][55] The ongoing efforts of W4W to role model peaceful, silent prayer, plus their calls to the orthodox to refuse to respond to provocations have decreased heated reactions from the orthodox camp;^[48] The Forward described the gathering at the Kotel on 4 October 2013 (Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan) "the calmest prayer service in months".^[56]

The Western Wall, or Kotel

The Western Wall served as the retaining wall of the first and second Temple. According to tradition, its sanctity is two-fold – it is the closest spot on earth to the location of the first and second Temples that Jews are allowed to access. Tradition holds that there are areas of the Temple Mount that are forbidden for any Jew in a state of ritual impurity to traverse. Since we do not have a Temple now, we cannot expunge ritual impurity, thus should a Jew walk atop the Temple Mount, he or she may be defiling certain sacred areas. In addition to the proximity to the Temple Mount, tradition holds that the Western Wall was built by donations made by the poor of Israel and that such self-sacrifice confers a special protection to the site. The Temple Mount is now occupied by the Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. In Islamic tradition, Mohammed ascended to heaven from the Temple Mount.

Access to the Western Wall

Throughout history, access to the Western Wall has been limited by the controlling political power of the time. Under the British Mandate, Jews were not allowed to bring chairs to the Kotel, nor could they put up a mechitza in order to separate between men and women and conduct traditional services. After the Kotel's capture from the Kingdom of Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967, part of the southern area next to the Kotel was cleared of abandoned Arab homes that had all but hid the place, and traditional worship was restored. Women of the Wall have been criticized as unwitting allies in ignoring the destruction of these homes and in supporting the Wall as a symbol of Israeli nationalism.^[57] Most of the Western wall runs the length of East Jerusalem, with the Temple Mount to the east and dwellings to the west.

Non-traditional Jewish Worship at the Kotel

Women of the Wall was founded at the first International Jewish Women's Feminist Conference in Jerusalem in 1988. Conservative and Reform prayer groups held prayer services in the late 1990s. An agreement was reached that non-traditional forms of prayer would be held at Robinson's arch, which is the first part of the Western Wall as seen from the entrance at the Dung Gate. In April 2013, Women of the Wall stepped up its legal activism and entered the traditional women's section of the wall wearing tefillin, tzitzit, which traditionally are commanded upon Jewish men, and singing loudly. WoW had a $52,000 grant from the New Israel Fund in 2012 with an additional 10,000 shekel grant in 2013.^[58][59]

References