Liberation of the Wall!

No more arrests for the "crime" of wearing a tallit at the Kotel!

The verdict is in - the police appeal against the overturning of the arrests of five women on 11th April has been rejected. Anat Hoffman, Director of the Israeli Religious Action Centre and leader of the Women of the Wall group, said the ruling has:

"liberated the Western Wall for all the Jewish people."

This story is big enough now to make the major news outlets:

BBC News online Middle East
The New York Times
not to mention the Jewish Chronicle!

Not sure what will happen next - we shall see at the next Rosh Chodesh service in May. For now, though, just delighted at this news.

Tikkun's Analysis of the Sharansky Plan

Abby Caplin wrote about the current situation at the Western Wall site in Jerusalem yesterday in the online daily blog of Tikkun magazine. She reported on a conference call that Anat Hoffman made with various Jewish organisations:

"According to chair of WOW Anat Hoffman, who spoke last week via conference call to the New Israel Fund, and yesterday to the Union for Reform Judaism, the plan calls for opening up the area of the Kotel plaza and extending the length of the Kotel to Robinson's Arch. It includes a single entrance for all and 24/7 access.

The current portion of what is now the Kotel could remain under the jurisdiction of Rabinowitz's Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which collects vast sums of money from often unwitting Diaspora Jews to maintain its hegemony. Robinson's Arch would be raised up topographically to be on par with the Kotel area to create a larger, continuous stretch of Kotel. The newer raised-up section designated for egalitarian mixed gender prayer might fall under the aegis of the Jewish Agency. This leaves some confusion about how and where women-only, and Orthodox-inclusive, Women of the Wall would pray. It could be that, despite the compromise, the power of the ultra-Orthodox men might remain intact at the original site, where Orthodox women would continue to be subjected to gross misogyny in that section.

According to Hoffman, Sharansky's plan will face many obstacles. The plan must be reviewed by Israel's Department of Antiquities, accepted by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (which claims jurisdiction over the Mughrabi bridge located between the Wall and Robinson's Arch), and Israeli citizens must be willing to spend millions of shekels to accommodate ultra-Orthodox "sensibilities". Successful implementation of Sharansky's plan could take years. But given that some progress has been made, "WOW refuses to be one of those obstacles," Hoffman said.

Of course, a more cost-effective and common sense option would be for Jews to share time, rather than space, at the Kotel."

the entire article may be read here.

Bearing in mind the strong bias of the author as reflected in the way she describes the situation, I still think this is a clear depiction of it at the moment. On the one hand, Sharansky's proposal is unclear, uncertain  and expensive. On the other hand, WoTW have hope, flexibility and strength enough to compromise for the sake of progress.

More Arrests at the Kotel

Anat Hoffman wrote the following this morning:

"A unique gathering happened this morning at the Western Wall. During Women of the Wall's usual Rosh chodesh prayer service in the women's section of the Kotel, we were fortunate to be supported by some very special visitors. Veterans from the IDF's famed Paratrooper Battalion 66, the men who liberated the Western Wall in 1967, were with our supporters in the men's section. These men are living legends and among Israel's modern heroes.

It was only after the prayer service was over and the paratroopers had left that the police detained ten women, including myself, for committing the crime of wearing a tallit at the Western Wall. This group included two Conservative rabbis who were supposed to meet with Natan Sharansky today to discuss the Kotel issue, one Reform rabbinical student who is 8 months pregnant, two congregants from the Reform congregation in Kiryat Tivon, and several other women. As of this writing, we have all been released without restrictions."

This happens every month now, and perhaps it's no longer news for many people. Nevertheless these women continue to fight for our right to pray equally. Perhaps this month there may be a little more interest because there is a minor celebrity tangentially involved, i.e., the comedian Sarah Silverman, currently in London to promote her latest venture, has tweeted her support:

"SO proud of my amazing sister @rabbisusan & niece @purplelettuce95 for their ballsout civil disobedience. Ur the tits! #womenofthewall"

There is a report of the morning's events in HaAretz. Of particular interest is the quote from one of the paratroopers, Yitzhak Yifat, well known from his place in the centre of the famous photo taken at the liberation of the wall in 1967. As he stood in the men's section with other male supporters he said:

"I decided to come here to show my support for all those who wish to pray at the Kotel whatever way they wish, so long as they are not doing anything immoral ... It breaks my heart that the ultra-Orthodox have decided the Kotel belongs to them."

Support for Anat Hoffman & Women of the Wall

In Jerusalem, at the Western Wall aka the Kotel, a Jewish woman was arrested last week for the crime of singing the Shema, i.e., praying. Her name is Anat Hoffman. She is currently the Director of the Israel Religious Action Center aka IRAC.

Click to learn what is actually illegal according to Israeli law

Background to the issue of a pluralistic group of women praying at the Wall may be found here.
There is also a 2009 story in the NY Times here.
An American perspective from the Jewish Journal may be found here.

Here are some links to the latest part of the struggle for egalitarian status in prayer at this site:

Why I was arrested for praying at the Western Wall via Huffington Post
Anat Hoffman after arrest in Haaretz
Police shackle Anat Hoffman for saying Sh'ma at the Kotel by Debra Nussbaum Cohen in the Jewish Daily Forward

Rabbi Laura Geller talks about Anat and Henrietta Szold
A view from the Velveteen Rabbi
Who has the right to pray at the Western Wall by Rabbi Daniel Brenner
What is the textual source of Kol Isha? by Rabbi Judith Abrams

There was a live webcast with Anat this evening. The most popular question for her was - how may we help to support her and the work of Women of the Wall? She replied with the following suggestions:

1.  sign the petition to liberate the Wall on the IRAC website.  The link is here.
2.  visit the Women of the Wall website
3.  buy the WOW tallit - Anat used some of the funds to pay her legal fees, and said that she loved the idea that the subversive act of wearing a tallit also supports the struggle in Israel
4.  Organise a Rosh Chodesh service outside the Israeli consulate in your home town
5.  Write your sentiments in the Jewish and the Israeli press
6.  Persuade your Israeli relatives to vote for measures to change the situation in Israel
7.  Donate financially whatever you can!

@kungfujew18 trawled the Twitterverse for us to bring this selection of Tweets sent during the webchat

You can join in also via projects such as
Hear O Israel: The Global Sh'ma Flashmob
Reclaim and Liberate the Kotel

btw, there were two other women arrested alongside Anat!