Early on sunday morning, Rosh Chodesh, EIE went to participate with Women of the Wall. Women of the Wall is an organization that is encouraging the rights of Women to read from the torah and pray at the Western Wall, and be just as proud to be Jews as the Men can be. I have always considered myself a large feminist and for the past year saw Women of the Wall as the most important thing I could do as a young Jewish feminist. In the past year I have worked with my own high school on changing our dress code to not target females, taught elementary school girls the importance on girl power, and have fought for equal rights through social media and online, but I did not seemed fulfilled by these actions because knowing that I had not been a part of Women of the Wall.
On Thursday we met with the head of the Israeli Religious Action Center, Anat Hoffman, who just happened to be one of my feminist role models. She is a leader of Women of the Wall and shared about how Israel needs to have equality, as a democratic state. When we went early Sunday morning to Women of the Wall, we were greeted by Anat and other ladies leading the service. It was rainy and Eie and about 15 other ladies gathered under 2 umbrellas with Sidurim printed just for this service. It felt normal to be praying, the strangeness came mostly from the fact the service was Orthodox, and was hard to follow as Reform Jews. Although I knew we were a part of something big with Women of the Wall, it just felt very normal and unsymbolic.
When we got to the Torah service, I was curious whether or not there would be a Torah. The closer and closer we got to the part of the actual reading the more excited I got over if there would be a Torah. I was disappointed when I saw we would be reading from our Siddurim, and I realized that if a was boy, I wouldn't be having the opportunity to pray with one of my role models Anat Hoffman, so I quickly cheered up. Then Eie got called up for an Aliyah, and that was also a moment in which I realized that the women all around me from Eie are my sisters, and that even though there wasn't a Torah, I had something special all around me. We were singing and dancing after the Aliyot, and one lady complained that are group was disturbing her praying, which we shrugged off with out any worries. Finally as the Torah service we danced around the Kotel singing a tune we learned back in Poland, and had so much fun despite the weather.
Overall the experience felt normal, which is almost better because the means progress. I learned the Women of the Wall was not the golden grail of feminism, and that I still am not fulfilled with the lack of equality around the world for women. It is important to bring back the values from Women of the Wall around the world and not just at the Kotel.
In what ways do you think you can change your community? What did you take out of Women of the Wall and the service and what was your favorite part? Is it important to bring equality in Israel?
What was the experience for the guys like?
I hope to use my knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and many other things to help people in my community make educated decisions. I really enjoyed the Women of the Wall service. It really made me feel like I was a part of something very important. I agree with a lot of the messages that Women of the Wall has and i was honored to be able to support them in this way. I especially enjoyed when we sang the nigun from Poland. I felt such a sense of pride a community. I think it is very important to bring equality to Israel. Israel is supposed to the land for all Jews to come to, not just the Orthodox. It isn't effective to have a Jewish state if not all Jews feel comfortable living/being there.
ReplyDeleteI want to share my new knowledge of Israel's history as well as it's current situation to my family and friends to make them more educated on what is actually happening in Israel and how it reacts to the current conflicts. I want to encourage my family to come to Israel because I believe that it is easier to know something if it is seen or experienced rather than just being told about. I couldn't go to the wall but it is still very important that Israel establishes equal rights for women at the Kotel and the rest of Israel.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of the service was when we were all singing Oseh Shalom all together really loudly. I felt that we were showing the men on the other side that the women's voices can and should be hard t the wall. I really felt powerful at that point in the service. I feel that equality is very important, especially at a landmark as important as the Kotel. Women should be heard and should be able to participate just like men. I believe the way that the Women of the Wall are fighting inequality is great.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really know what I want to change within my community, but I would like to be a provider of knowledge to those around me when I get back. I enjoyed when we were singing and dancing while singing the Poland nigun. I found the entire experience to be quite inspiring, witnessing women making history and being a part of this same thing. I believe in equality in Israel. I don’t think it is right for women to be treated lesser (in certain situations, not all) than men, and I think we should always have more equality. I don’t believe in total equality, for my own personal reasons, as there are certain things that are simply what I know and would be weird if it was changed, but maybe 90% equality would be nice.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Coleman
In efforts to change my community I'm not entirely certain what I'd do. Seeing as I haven't actually been home for 6 months now I think it's hard to determine now what might potentially need to change. I believe that it is important to promote equality not only in Israel but also just in general. I don't understand why that's such a hard concept around the world for people to understand that all humans are equal regardless of race, gender. etc. I was absent for the tiyuul so I'm not able to answer the other two questions.
ReplyDeleteFor us, we mostly spent the time waiting to begin a service, while listening to Rabbi Loren Sykes give us a short general history of the wall. We did not have an extensive religious service while at the wall, but the time we spent learning was very valuable. What I found most interesting was that there are actually pictures of mixed services at the wall without a Mechitzah from before 1948, establishing a precedent of equalized prayer. It's only a recent development in Israeli history that such a separation has arisen from the dictums of the Rabbinate.
ReplyDelete-Noah Arnold
I can change my community through education and advocacy. I plan to be an israel advocate when I go back and to educate people about the situation in israel. I think women of the wall is such a powerful movement that allows women to express their jewish identity and be proud of their jewish identities in public and in such a holy site. My favorite part was all singing the poland nigun together and dancing in circles. I believe equality is important everywhere. I know there are certain things in certain places that will never change, but I will continue to fight for the rights of women to be equal to men in society as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteMy time at the Kotel was not the most meaningful experience I've had in the past four months. I felt relatively unincluded, which was not entirely a bad thing. I think it was impossible for the men to get the same experience as the women did this morning, which I also think wasn't exactly the point. In any case, we got to spend a lot of time with Rabbi Loren and it was nice for me to go into a beit knesset that I hadn't known had even existed. My morning, if anything, was a simple reminder that Israeli society operates differently than American society, and there's going to be a long road to equality.
ReplyDeleteI believe that as a community is made up of individuals and voices, all it takes is passion and a will to speak out to start opening people's minds and sowing seeds of change. I believe that open dialogue about the issues we face is a crucial step for any change.
ReplyDeleteThe Women of the Wall service reiterated for me a theme that has been brought up quite a few times in my EIE experience: that my knowledge of Judaism is very narrow. For all that I wanted to sing and truly daven as these women did, I have not learned to do so. I would like to become more educated about my own religion in order that I may really connect with women like those with which we prayed, and be a true advocate for the role of women in Judaism.
Women of the wall showed me how ready the world is for new progressive ideas. This is an exciting time of change and I hope to bring that to my community when I get back. When I get back I plan on being an advocate for Israel when I get back. I hope by my new ideas and new found knowledge I can make a difference. One of my favorite experiences was finally seeing the inside of the wall and having rabbi tell us about tefillin
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I live in a very liberal place. Sexism and inequality is not something I normally have to deal with, although I know it's a problem in so many other places. In Israel especially, I'm astounded at how much women can't do at the wall and at so many other religious sights. Although I wasn't able to come, I heard so much and how amazing it was for everyone involved. I wish I could have been there for the once in a lifetime experience, and I'm so happy all of you had the chance.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the Israeli judicial system, America has a distinct separation of church and state. I believe that this is truly important because religion should not be able to influence or determine laws or cases. What I found most shocking was seeing the actual security wall. I believe it is so degrading and the fact that humanit needs to barricade groups of people in order to keep or maintain peace is just truly disturbing and I hope that in the near future this wall will be taken down because although it has prevented many terrorist attacks I feel that we need to come up with a solution that will not depend on the literal separation by a concrete wall.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot to do in my community, my school is very relaxed with their dress code, the only rule being nothing see through and nothing starting above your navel. Due to the fact that we had only one listening device, almost nobody on the guy's side could hear the services. My favorite part was when we entered the little cave next to the wall, and we could see all of the people praying in all different ways. While I believe equality is necessary, I also believe that there needs to be equality for the orthodox as well, meaning that there can not be breaking down of the Mehitza entirely, but I would be ok with having an area that is co ed.
ReplyDeleteThis trip to me felt like any other trip to the Kotel with exception of pride for the women praying on the opposite side of the mechitzah from me. I learned there, I sang with the group, and I even got to listen to the voices of the Women of the Wall.
ReplyDeleteI do not know where to start with equality. No matter what side one takes in order to bring equality, one side will end with the smaller end of the stick. I personally dislike the mechitzah, but to the orthodox, if we were to bring it down, it would be a sign of inequality ti them. So I have no idea what should be done.
I loved the Women of the Wall service. I think it is very inspiring what Anette is doing for the women of Israel. My favorite part of the service was the energy this group of women had. The entire time these women were so energetic and never stopped enjoying themselves. These women are doing whatever they can to make rights equal for men and women and I am inspired by this. I loved how much motivation had and they will do whatever it takes to make the Women of the Wall work.
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