Reports of Solidarity

Women of Wall leader arrested – Israel News, Ynetnews Where there’s a will, there’s a way July 12, 2010…1:58 pm Praying with … Read more

2 Av 5770 July 12, 2010 Dear Women of the Wall, On behalf of Adas Israel Sisterhood, I write to … Read more

Fanatics, Feminists and a Big F-You Blogs – Chief of Pray Blog Susan Diamond Jul 14 |14:37 Earlier this summer, … Read more

As she was carrying a Torah during morning services at the women’s section of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Anat Hoffman was arrested by Israeli police. This arrest of the leader of Women of the Wall is a shocking wake-up call that all women in Israel are not free to practice their Judaism there. This police action is part of a systematic plan to erode the right of women to access Judaism’s most sacred site.

he Kotel, of course, is one of the few remnants of the Temple Mount, where the 1st and 2nd Temples stood. It is especially ironic that this incident should take place on this particular day, as we begin the “9 days” leading to Tisha b’Av, the day on which Jews mark and mourn the destruction of both Temples (and other historical national disasters as well).

This morning at OSRUI, Torah was read all over camp. Our readers were women and men. The Torah was carried by rabbis and teachers, counselors and staff – male and female. The Torah for which Anat was arrested is the Torah from which we teach and learn each and every day. The country that allowed for the arrest of a woman carrying the Torah is the country for which we pray for peace and safety each and every day.

A major struggle we face today in Judaism is allowing for differences among religious norms of Jewish practice. In Israel, those who practice ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Hareidim) wield considerable political power.

I called my Rabbi late last night and at minyan this morning, he loaned me tefillin and helped me put them on. I was also given an aliyah to the Torah.I

The travails of the Women of the Wall have shown me another story–a tale that tears my soul. Women are being arrested, detained, and assaulted for the crimes of donning tallit and tefillin, carrying a Torah, lifting their voices in prayer.

Today I did so in solidarity with the Women of the Wall, and truly had a wonderful experience davening on a beautiful spring morning in Michigan.