Women of and for the Wall

If I ever had an iota of interest in or sympathy for the two-month old, grassroots, Orthodox, Women for the Wall group, (note the word for) it was totally destroyed when I had the opportunity to listen to its founders recently.

Ronit Peskin and Leah Aharoni, co-founders of Women for the Wall, claim to be dedicated to heritage and tradition. But they certainly need to be taught about lashon hara (evil tongue or gossip) as well as defamation and slander because that was exactly what they did in their tirades against the Women of the Wall.

In case you don’t know Women of the Wall wants to wear prayer shawls, pray and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall. The Orthodox Women for the Wall group is opposed to Women of the Wall’s mission.

The Women for the Wall claim the Women of the Wall “runs against the traditional approach and are trying to impose their wishes on people who come to pray at the Western Wall.”

The Women for the Wall do not seem to understand that they are doing precisely what they reject. They are, in fact, trying to coerce women who do not believe like themselves to follow a tradition that is not their tradition.

At the same gathering representatives of Women of the Wall Batya Kallus, vice chair, and Shira Pruce, public relations chair, calmly and professionally explained their purpose.

On Sunday, Rosh Chodesh, once again, as has been occurring for 25 years, the Women of the Wall gathered to attempt to pray in an all-women’s prayer group. A friend of mine who was there and attends these gatherings regularly, reported that the police cordoned off the haredi men who proceeded to yell “zonah” (Hebrew for prostitute) and other disruptive things; next to them, barricaded together were religious women who did not appear to be praying but were also yelling. “Ghettoed in” with metal barricades on all sides next to the religious women were the Women of the Wall, attempting to pray. Outside the barricades were police, shoulder to shoulder, guarding the women when they left the security of the pen.

The atmosphere was far from calm; some haredi men threw eggs at the women and the yelling never stopped.

The government continues to search for a solution resolving the controversy over female prayer at the Western Wall. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, has called for the renovation of a respected site to make it accessible to non-Orthodox worshippers at all hours of the day.

Let’s hope cooler heads prevail and a solution is found soon.

Sybil Kaplan

Jerusalem, Israel