Women of the Wall: Rosh Chodesh Av
I participated in Women of the Wall’s Rosh Chodesh Av service this morning. Here’s an attempt to capture what the experience was like for me.
Women of the Wall: Rosh Chodesh Av
I participated in Women of the Wall’s Rosh Chodesh Av service. Here’s an attempt to capture what the experience was like for me.
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This morning I prayed with @Womenofthewall in an attempt to be an ally. I tweeted during the experience but had no wifi, so here they come.
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I have never before been so keenly aware of what it’s like to attempt to be an ally and be conscious of not taking up space that’s not mine.
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Davening with @Womenofthewall this morning. Got off the bus to be greeted by a Hareidi woman telling me I was dirty and should be ashamed.
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We were bussed in from a Jerusalem park and escorted through security to a reserved spot on the Western Wall Plaza. Haaretz reported that this was the first time in 25 years Women of the Wall had to pray on the plaza instead of at the wall, but I’m told it’s been happening for the last few months (ever since the courts ruled they had a right to be there and Hareidi women responded by flooding the women’s section of the wall to keep them away).
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Feeling naked without my Tallis, but I loaned it to @suziess . It felt more important for her to have it.
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There are Orthodox girls and young women watching from the entrance with a range of emotions from wonder to disgust.
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There are a lot of press covering the service, and a lot of participants taking pictures and tweeting.
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There seems to be a policy not to engage with the protesters. One woman near me is finding that particularly challenging.
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I far prefer it when the Haredim use prayers to attempt to drown is out – more prayer is certainly better prayer competing with shouts.
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“Get out of here Amalek” and “Nazis” among shouts of haredi boys 2 WoW and police #jpost pic.twitter.com/RUP19IxHBY -
Any of the black hatters seem more curious than angry, although there’s definitely a group trying to drown us out.
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(That should read “Many of the…”)
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We were just told to turn 90 degrees – “We’re trying to face the wall, not the Hareidim.”
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“Counter protest” of Women of the Wall, raising prayer books and singing at haredi protesters #jpost pic.twitter.com/BXeazGYDy5The further we get into the service the louder the Hareidi men get in their attempts to disrupt. They really didn’t like when we said Shema.Hareidi men are now blowing whistles to attempt to disrupt our prayers.It’s interesting that the Women of the Wall siddur includes English translation (from Conservative siddur) and transliteration.It’s worth noting that the printing of this siddur was funded by Women of Reform Judaism.Without a Seder Torah, we make the blessing for learning Torah (לעסוק התורה) and listen to a Bat Mitzvah chant. pic.twitter.com/HnncRRy5G5(That should read “Sefer Torah” – there’s a reason I don’t usually try to tweet and daven at the same time!)The bat miztvah’s grandmother has been davening with @Womenofthewall for 25 years. She’s 3rd generation of her family to chant Torah here.Third Aliyah…. First egg thrown. But appears to be isolated.(Incidentally, one of the women appears to have caught the egg before it broke.)There is now a drum & bugle corps playing behind us. Unclear of that’s to disrupt us or just regular Jerusalem silliness.The @WomenOfTheWall service ends with Anat Hoffman leading Hatikva vine.co/v/h7mxm6aAuEpSecond egg thrown at the end of Hatikva. (It missed.)Apparently my egg-counting skills aren’t great. A friend studying in Yeshivat Maharat said she and Rabba Sara got hit.I later learned that my friend Rabbi Sari Laufer (who is six months pregnant) was also hit with a hard-boiled egg.#Protip: A hard-boiled egg, thrown from a distance with velocity, leaves a mark if it hits you in the neck. #truestory @WomenofthewallThen this happened. RT @ShiraKoch: The man who hit @rabbilaufer with the egg was arrested #womenofthewall / or at least detained.Women of the Wall issued a press release after today’s service:
July 8, 2013
Women of the Wall’s Prayers Blocked and Exiled from the Western Wall; Police Collaborate with ultra-Orthodox Protesters
More than 350 Women of the Wall were led by police escort to a fenced in area of the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza while the Western Wall stood nearly empty at 7 AM on July 8, 2013. The women were held to pray in a space next to the public bathroom, usually used by Police as a parking area, and were not provide a separate section for women to pray away from the 100 male supporters, effectively forcing the women into mixed prayer. The women were refused entrance to the main plaza, to pray close-up to the Kotel, and instead, 100 ultra-Orthodox protesters with signs, whistles, throwing eggs and yelling were allowed free of the public, holy site.
The women’s section was full of seminary students bussed in for the purpose of blocking out Women of the Wall; however, the remaining space surrounding the Western Wall was empty. Hundreds of witnesses were shocked at the scene as there was ample room for Women of the Wall to pray. Despite claims of security and keeping the public order as the reason to blocking the women’s prayer from entering the Kotel, Police stood back and did nothing while an international female journalist was physically attacked by a haredi man and woman. Her request to file a complaint on the spot against the attackers was denied.
Lesley Sachs, Director of Women of the Wall said, “Today the Police gave in to politics and bullies instead of upholding women’s democratic right to pray freely at the Western Wall.”
Anat Hoffman, Chair, added, “During the prayer for the Peace of the State of Israel and Hatikvah, women were crying, especially in the line, “To be a free nation in our country”. We are more resolved than ever continue and come back next month with more women. We will see women pray freely at the Kotel.”
Women of the Wall, Haredim face off at Western Wall
Women of the Wall members, May 10, 2013. Photo by AFP Jun.09,2013 | 10:34 AM | 18 Tensions are running high ahead of Monday morning’s Ros…Women of the Wall denied access to Kotel
Several hundred members of the Women of the Wall feminist prayer group were blocked from entering the women’s section of the Western Wall…Had a moment realizing how beautiful it COULD be if all of us were allowed to raise our voices in prayer. Blog later? @WomenofthewallBack safe and mostly sound from @Womenofthewall. Despite the anger from the other side, beautiful #RoshChodeshAv davenning. @ShiraKochI have to echo what Sari said. Despite the tension and the anger, the davening itself was beautiful. I’m not someone who is often (ever?) moved to tears by prayer, but I found myself welling up several times this morning — during Hallel when we read the verse “The rock the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22), during the bat mitzvah (particularly thinking about the generations of women in my life), and during Hatikvah, realizing how these women were living out the struggle described in the words of the song.I have a hard time getting worked up about the Kotel — it all feels a little too avodah zarah (idol worshippy) to me. And ultimately the women are fighting for the right to single-gender prayer, which isn’t my battle either. But I understand a thing or two about state-sponsored and societally institutionalized discrimination, and the women who have made this their fight are truly inspiring.storify.comRelated stories
I was there last month. The first month that there were protests by W4W (when Seminary girls were bused in), the women davened in the Plaza itself, outside the mechitza. The second month (last month)WoW was put into a special section under the bridge. So they are correct in that this is the first month they weren’t allowed to enter the plaza.
Thank you for the clarification!