Saturday, February 16 we got up bright and early to participate in Women of the Wall. Women of the Wall is a feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Kotel. The mission is to attain social recognition of the right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray, and read from the Torah, at the Western Wall. Women of the Wall takes place at the Kotel on Rosh Hodesh, the first day of each Hebrew month.
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| "The barrier" |
When we arrived at the Kotel we were surrounded by a huge crowd of people. The morning began while waiting in a long security line. During this security line was when we had our first encounter with the other side. Not everyone at the Kotel was a supporter of Women of the Wall. As we were waiting in the security line an orthodix Jewish women appraoched us. As I recall, this women told us that we were ruining Judiasm and causing hatred. Orthdox Jews are against the Women of the Wall movement becuase they do not believe that women should pray at the Kotel
Once we made it past security, all the girls went down to the Kotel while all the boys observed from above. The first thing I noticed was a barrier. The women side of the wall was divided, supporters of Women of the Wall in the center and nonsupporters on the right side. The supporters of Women of the Wall consist mostly of secular Jews, while the nonsupporters consist of orthodox Jews.
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| The Torah service led by the Women of The Wall |
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| All the women coming together to pray |
Taking part in Women of the Wall was an amazing experince. We got too stand up for womens rights and witneess the coming together of Jewish Women. The fight for equality at the Kotel is an ungoing battle between secular Jews and orthodox Jews.
I am going to leave you all with a question.....
Why do you think the Wall is divided between men and women? Do you think this is right, and what is a solution to fix the lack of equality among men and women?
The Kotel is divided between men and women because when it was reclaimed in 1967, the Reform movement had rejected Zionism. They believed that the Western Wall wasn’t more important than any other synagogue in the world, and that the new Jewish places around the world were equally significant. Thus, control was given to the Orthodox Jews. I think it will be many years before a solution is found that all sects of Jews can agree on. However, the ideal end resolution in my opinion would be taking down the partition that very unfairly divides the men’s section and women’s section.
ReplyDeleteThe wall is divided between men and women because of orthdox traditions. Men have a bigger section and they are allowed to sing and bring Torahs. I do not believe it is right because Judaism is a House For All People-not just men to have superiority. In addition, if Judaism is a House For All People, we should be together as one, not two unequal groups. In my opinion, the main solution is tolerance, respect, and education that teaches equality among men and women.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is not about equality it's about how highly you value tradition. The ultra orthodox community has strict gender roles for men and woman and follows a very strict interpretation of the torah. The machitzah has been around for hundreds of years and will never come down because neither men or woman in the orthodox community want it too.
ReplyDeleteThe Kotel has a divide between the women’s side and men’s due to the strict ultra orthodox interpretation of the Torah. The orthodox community hold their beliefs strongly, which is also the cause of different seating arrangements on busses, the thought of homosexuality as a ‘sin’, and the screaming coming from both genders during the Women of the Wall protests. Asking for a change or more equality is like asking for the Torah to be rewritten which we all know won’t happen. The fight for equality for both genders is heavily pursued by the reform movement, but even the reform movement is looked down upon by the ultra orthodox. If change is going to happen it’s going to need to start from the top, the reform movement has such a small impact on the older traditions because we don’t follow each commandment like the ultra orthodox do.
ReplyDeleteI believe the wall is there because of the fact that the orthodox people that run the country. The only way for that to come down is for there to be an agreement in government to do so. Even after that is done, there would still be extreme opposition from the orthodox in Israel. The only way to achieve the equality we seek is with acceptance of other kinds of Judaism from the orthodox movement.
ReplyDeleteI think that the separation isn't the problem at all. It is an Orthodox belief that men and women should pray apart from each other, so they separated it. The problem is that they won't even allow women to pray on their own side. I understand, kind of, just because that is their belief system, but to be fair to each group, the women should be allowed to pray if they want to pray on their side. What I really don't understand is that instead of praying themselves, they are spending their time at the holiest place in the world yelling at other people trying to pray. They yelled at us that we are ruining Judaism and prayer, but they are purposefully ruining the service going on. It's hypocritical to say the least. I don't know if there is really a solution that would be accepted by both sides. Maybe splitting the wall into more pieces, so there is a space for women to hold a service and a place for women to not. The problem is that I don't think that would stop people from being mad about it. Perhaps the best thing to do is for the women of the wall to keep doing what they're doing and hope that exposure will lead to tolerance, but who knows how long that could take.
ReplyDeleteI think that the separation at the Kotel is due to traditional Orthodox beliefs, including those against men and women mixing unnecessarily, especially during prayer. While I respectfully disagree, I don't think it is all that wrong. Personally, I understand why they want to divide it and maintain their traditions. There is not really a solution to this where both sides can equally get what they want. If the traditional Orthodox Jews get their way, then Women of the Wall would not get what they were fighting for which is equality at the Kotel. If the Women of the wall were to get their way, then the Orthodox Jews would feel as if their religious beliefs would be violated. Either way, it seems as though violence would break out and already deep tensions within different strains of Judaism would worsen. Hopefully equality will be reached, as I do strongly support these brave women. However, whatever the solution, hopefully it will not harm the religion as a whole.
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ReplyDeleteI honestly don’t know how long it will take for there to be more equality at the wall but organizations like Women of the Wall, that fight for women’s rights, are a start towards this equality. It is tradition in Judaism for men and women to pray separately. In my opinion the orthodox have taken it too far by physically separating men and women and restricting women from Torah reading and the usage of traditional garments but this is just part of their religion. One cannot simply change their traditions overnight.
ReplyDeleteThe split between men and women in prayer has been a tradition for years and years. I don't think it is wrong because it is apart of the orthodox religion. Each religion has it's own belief and, even if I don't agree with a split, all beliefs and traditions should be respected. However, I do believe the way we are split is sexist, whether it's part of the religion or not. Just because one is instructed that womens' voices should not be heard in prayer and mens' voices should, doesn't make it morally right. I believe women and men should be treated equally and everyones' voice should be heard. By moving the barrier to create more space for women to pray and by letting our voices be heard, we get to feel a greater influence by the surrounding cultural ways. I also find it sexist that women in Israel cannot read from the torah and because of this, only boys get bar miztvahs. Girls and women miss out on so many cultural experiences because they let the men control their way of life.
ReplyDeleteI'd just like to state my opinion of the Women of the Wall movement. I do believe that women are equal. However, I have been to The Wall three times in my lifetime; I'm assuming that most of you have a similar story. Those who were protesting the Women of the Wall, may go multiple times a week. Who the hell am I to intrude and dictate these people's way of life? If 90% of the people who pray at the kotel regularly want the wall to be segregated, including women (as you pointed out), then I think it should be segregated. The egalitarian section is already a compromise by the orthodox. some say that it is too small or insignificant, but personally, I enjoy the egalitarian section more.
ReplyDeleteThe divide between men and women at the Western Wall has existed for several years. This is because of orthodox tradition. However, I do believe that women should be granted more equality at the wall. I am not very well versed in all the conflict there so I dont know a soluton that will be a win-win for everyone but I do think that its crazy that even some women are against women hving rights at the kotel.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall is divided because of traditional Jewish laws. Jews who practice more strictly would say that women should not pray a the wall. Women have only been praying at the wall for a short period of time. I think men and women should feel free to pray with whoever they want. It is not fair that the men and women side are un-evenly divided too. If the decision has been made to keep the prayer separate then at least make each side the same amount of space. This brings up a bunch of issues, some that I experienced this summer in Italy. I respected that I was visiting a synagogue that separated gender. However I was upset that when we separated, the women always either had a guard or had to go upstairs.
ReplyDeleteThe orthodox tradition requires a separation between genders during prayer, and it doesn't allow for women to read the Torah. This is a large issue and I do not agree with it, however, opinions are opinion. I believe that separating the Kotel into separate prayer sections, including one for a more reform prayer system that is in the main part of the wall, will allow more unity. However, Orthodox traditions would call this an un-sanctifying of the Kotel; impurifying it. Though the situation is not wonderful, I do believe that it is the most positive and mutual outcome.
ReplyDeleteUnpopular opinion time. I think that the wall being divided is good and I think the it is fine for the women’s sections being smaller is fine. There are far more men at the wall then women and so if the sizes were equal it would be far more crowded on the men half then the woman’s. Additionally there is already a mixed section of the wall thag reform Jews can pray at how they want. But for conservative and Orthodox Jews they can not pray together and so if the wall became for both men and woman then those more traditional Jews would. I longer be able to pray there. I’m not saying it’s perfect the way it is. For example women should be able to hold Torah services at the wall, but the wall should remained split.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the separation of the men and the women at the wall is necessarily a bad thing. It is a problem in my opinion because the women are kept from praying with the Torah. Because of this, the only solution is to continue what is already being done by the women of the wall, continue to pray and protest.
ReplyDeleteI’m honestly very conflicted on the idea of women of the wall. I do believe that the option for the egalitarian or the orthodox sections of the wall should be made to seem entirely equal however, but other parts are more blurred. I’m still struggling with my total thoughts and feelings on the subject.
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