Today is Day 16 of the counting of the omer. 16 Days from the second night of Passover on our journey to freedom, on our journey to Sinai. The Israelites left Egypt so that they could worship G-d in freedom. However, women in Jerusalem have not always been free in recent times. They have even been arrested. Sometimes the pictures are shocking, seeing Israeli police officers arresting Jewish women at the Kotel for praying. It looks like a scene out of Germany.
Today, there was good news at the Kotel and in Jerusalem. A very disciplined group has been meeting at the Kotel to daven, to pray since 1988 on Rosh Hodesh. Every single month. That takes commitment. That takes dedication. That takes discipline, the theme for today. I have been a supporter of Women of the Wall since its inception. I have my own stories of how I was told I couldn’t be a rabbi because I was a woman. The voice of a woman can be problematic according to some citations of Jewish law. A tallit might not be an obligation according to Jewish law but it is not forbidden. I could write all the citation on these issues.
Today, after five women were again arrested for the “crime” of wearing a tallit, a judge in Israel, ruled, “that there was no cause for arresting the women. In a groundbreaking decision, the judge declared that Women of the Wall are not disturbing the public order with their prayers. She said that the disturbance is created by those publicly opposing the women’s prayer, and Women of the Wall should not be blamed for others’ behavior. The women were released immediately, with no conditions.” http://womenofthewall.org.il/media-3/press-room-2/
It took discipline and compassion to get to this point. There is much compassion in Natan Sharansky’s proposal released this week for three sections of the Wall. (http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/sharansky-my-plan-for-western-wall-is-based-on-access-equality-and-unity.premium-1.514) There is much beauty in all of this. A voice will go out from Jerusalem. Kol hakavod Women of the Wall. This Rosh Hodesh there is much to celebrate.
A Prayer for Women of the Wall by Rahel Sharon Jaskow
May it be Your will, our God and God of our mothers and fathers, to bless this prayer group and all who pray within it: them, their families and all that is theirs, together with all the women and girls of your people Israel. Strengthen us and direct our hearts to serve You in truth, reverence and love. May our prayer be desirable and acceptable to You like the prayers of our holy mothers, Sarah, Rivka, Rahel and Leah. May our song ascend to Your Glorious Throne in holiness and purity, like the songs of Miriam the Prophet, Devorah the Judge, and Hannah in Shilo, and may it be pleasing to you as a sweet savor and fine incense.
And for our sisters, all the women and girls of your people Israel: let us merit to see their joy and hear their voices raised before You in song and praise. May no woman or girl be silenced ever again among Your people Israel or in all the world. God of justice, let us merit to see justice and salvation soon, for the sanctification of Your name and the repair of Your world, as it is written: Zion will hear and be glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, over Your judgments, O God. And it is written: For Zion’s sake I will not be still and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be silent, until her righteousness shines forth like a great light and her salvation like a flaming torch.
For Torah shall go forth from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem. Amen, selah.