My name is Melanie Z and I am a sophomore in high school. I am very passionate about Israel and I serve as my youth group Israel chair as well as serving on my Temple’s Israel committee.
This past week, we held our annual Israel Shabbat after which we had booths educating the participants on different current events relating to Israel. One of these was Women of the Wall.
It was exciting to educate the members of our congregation and to spread the word about the Women of the Wall organization. I believe that the event was incredibly successful and that we influenced the attendees to learn more and to support Women of the Wall.
Women of the Wall is important because women should have the same rights to torah as men regardless of where they live.
In America I am free to read from the Torah and I believe that I should be free to do so in Israel because whether I am Orthodox or Reform, I am still a Jew.
I am proud to be a Jewish woman and I should not be treated differently because I am a Jew within the Reform movement. I believe that if I am an advocate now, my own children someday will not have to fight this battle because it will be resolved and they will be free to be comfortable with their Judaism and ability to read Torah, no matter where they live or what movement they belong to.