By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — After over two decades, the fight for women’s participation at the Western Wall has finally received its day in court. The Israeli District Court ruled that the women have the right to gather at the Western Wall and pray there as they wish; this decision opened the doorway for bat mitzvah celebrations, and other special life-cycle events.
As one might expect, the Haredi and Hassidic population is up and arms about this decision. The Women of the Wall and all their supporters felt elated—as well they should.
Israeli policemen opened the paths on the right and the left, as throngs of Haredi men and women sneered and threw refuse at the women making their way to pray—as a community for the first time in open sunlight. But this time it was different. It used to be that whenever women wearing prayer shawls to the monthly service, they would be arrested for breaking a law that outlawed any deviation from “local custom” at the wall. Police arrested three Haredi protesters, and a police spokesman said more arrests may be in the offing as police review video.
Imagine women wrapped in prayer shawls, singing as a community!
Haredi Jews’ misogyny became more evident when they jeered at the women to, “Go back to Germany,” and they did not hesitate to throw stones at the buses that brought the women to the wall.
In the past, the police deliberately let the Haredim run amok; women in the past were even arrested for wearing a tallit. But this time was different. The Jerusalem District Judge Sobel ruled that the police had a responsibility and duty to protect the women and let them pray at the main plaza and the police did exactly that—they protected the women.
Interestingly, over 6000 Haredi seminary girls crowded the plaza at the behest of the Haredi rabbis—something that was unprecedented. Remarkably, the young women watched in disbelief and made do with a silent prayer as their form of protest.[1] Yet, when compared to the vociferous reaction of the Haredi men on the other side, one must wonder whether the 6000 young seminary women stood in awe and in solidarity with their brave sisters of this historical event.
I suspect that many silently did–they probably in their own way wanted to be part of Jewish history in the making.
=====
Notes
[1] Read more: http://www.jta.org/2013/05/10/news-opinion/haredi-orthodox-youth-mob-western-wall-to-protest-womens-prayer-service#ixzz2SwEMt9tO