{"id":360831,"date":"2010-02-24T17:57:50","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T22:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2504"},"modified":"2010-02-24T18:02:28","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T23:02:28","slug":"for-out-of-zion-reflections-on-a-very-busy-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/360831","title":{"rendered":"For Out of Zion….Reflections – On a Very Busy Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"StanleyDavids.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Stanley M. Davids is the Immediate Past President of ARZA<\/a>. This post first appeared at RJ.org<\/a>.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font>\"\"\"\"\"\"Resa
\nand I returned home to Jerusalem on January 25th. We plunged
\nimmediately into what has become a month long period of programs,
\nmeetings, encounters and conference calls.  We aren’t complaining. It’s
\njust that the days aren’t long enough.<\/p>\n

First up was Resa’s challenge to organize a national meeting of the 15 chapters of Women of Reform Judaism<\/a>
\n– Israel for February 14th.  (OK. For those who are curious: besides
\nthe “Day of Love,” which is observed in Israel on February 14th, what
\nis the date of the OTHER celebration of romantic attachment in Israel? 
\nDid you guess the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av? 
\nCongratulations!). The national meeting just happened to have been
\nscheduled in the midst of rising concern over events regarding the Women of the Wall<\/a>.  By now we all know of Nofrat Frenkel who was arrested while worshipping with WOW in November at the Kotel<\/a>
\non Rosh Hodesh (New Moon). That event set off a tsunami of anguished
\nresponses throughout the Diaspora, as Reform and Conservative Jews
\nexpressed profound resentment at what clearly has become a series of
\nescalating restrictions aimed at accommodating the ultra-Orthodox at
\nthe expense of just about everyone else.
<\/font><\/font>
<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What kinds of restrictions?  Women cannot wear Tallitot<\/em>
\nat the Kotel<\/i>; there is now a ‘men only’ walkway at the rear of the
\nWestern Wall Plaza; some bus routes in Jerusalem have been proclaimed
\n‘women in the rear of the bus’ routes; some Haredi air passengers are
\ndemanding the right to wear portable Mechitzahs<\/em> (barriers)
\nover their heads (sic) while they are flying, so that the sight of
\nwomen won’t distract them and so that they will not see the projected
\nmovies; in some areas of Jerusalem Haredim have gender-segregated
\nsidewalks.  Nofrat Frenkel’s arrest for many was simply the last straw.
<\/font>
<\/font><\/p>\n

In
\nsome ways, the powerful response in the Diaspora was not matched by a
\nsimilar expression of concern among many in Israel itself.  The image
\nof Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott found little resonance in
\nMedinat Yisrael<\/i>.  The cause of WOW was not easily embraced by many
\nliberal, progressive and even secular Israeli Jews for whom the Wall
\nnot only is of little personal religious significance, but whatever
\nsignificance there is had been dissipated by the State’s acquiescence
\nto the turning of the Kotel <\/i>area into an Orthodox synagogue.<\/p>\n

This
\nlack of congruity in what was seen by many to be a matter of profound
\nethical concern led in February to an extremely healthy and open
\ndialogue among the leaders of Progressive\/Reform Judaism in Israel and
\nin North America.  In fact, there is no question that Nofrat Frenkel’s
\narrest served as a superb motivation for the kinds of conversations
\nwhich served to dramatically enhance understandings of the differences
\nbetween religious sensibilities in Israel and in the Diaspora.  Though
\nWOW is not at all a part of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, (IMPJ) <\/a>or of IRAC<\/a>,
\nthese organizations (guided by a superb paper written by IMPJ Executive
\nDirector Gilad Kariv) has now clarified and sharpened their own
\ninternal consensus, and all parties have dramatically ratcheted up
\ntheir understanding of and respect for each other.<\/p>\n

And so Resa’s
\nWRJ-Israel program was held amidst a keen awareness of the unique
\nchallenges confronting women in Israel. Each of the 15 chapters of
\nWRJ-Israel was represented, and a 16th new chapter was announced. The
\npresident of WRJ, Lynn Magid Lazar, together with WRJ Executive
\nDirector Shelley Lindauer, presented gavels and charters to each of the
\n15 groups. Naama Kelman (HUC-J Dean) delivered a wonderful D’var Torah<\/i>;
\nGilad Kariv gave a superb keynote address; and Resa basked in what was
\nnothing less than an historic achievement.<\/p>\n

The next morning was
\nRosh Chodesh Adar<\/i>. I accompanied Lynn Magid Lazar and Shelley Lindauer
\nto the Kotel<\/i>, where they were joined by more than 150 other women. As
\nthe women began to quietly chant the Shacharit (<\/em>Morning) Service, being careful not to violate the letter of the law when it came to the wearing of Tallitot<\/em>,
\nthe attention and the scorn of some of the others worshiping at the
\nWall began to escalate. The police were everywhere present and very
\nactive and effective in trying to keep the Haredi women from pushing
\nand shoving into the worshiping women.<\/p>\n

From the other side of
\nthe Mechitzah <\/i>dividing the Western Wall Plaza, Haredi men began to
\nscream, to chant and to verbally harass the worshiping women. I walked
\ndown to the men’s side with a group of HUC students who had come to
\nbear witness and to davven<\/i>. The Haredim called the women every ugly and
\ndemeaning thing they could think of, while all the while screaming at
\nthe top of their lungs. The rising frenzy served to egg on the Haredi
\nwomen who now surged past and around the police – pushing and shoving
\nand spitting and screaming.<\/p>\n

Then the WOW reached the end of
\ntheir special Hallel prayers. It was time to leave the Kotel and to
\nhead to the Robinson’s Arch area in which they would be allowed to read
\nTorah and to wear a Tallit <\/i>in relative peace. As I walked out of the
\nmen’s area to say goodbye to Lynn and to Shelley, my eye caught an old
\nfriend of mine, Rabbi Janet Liss. Janet was just standing there,
\nlooking stunned. I went up to her, put my arm around her and asked her
\nwhat had happened. Janet had been hit in the face by one of the Haredi
\nwomen who were finding novel ways to express their embrace of the
\nholy. Not so much seriously hurt but feeling grotesquely violated,
\nJanet just needed a brief respite to regain control of her
\nemotions. She had been physically attacked in broad daylight at the
\nKotel <\/i>by Jewish women in the name of holiness.  This was a great deal
\nto handle.  (You may want to go to the Women of the Wall home page on Facebook<\/a> to see an album of pictures from Rosh Chodesh Adar<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

Does
\nanyone need to be reminded as to why we American Reform Jews must begin
\nto change our Movement’s approach to the need of the IMPJ and of IRAC
\nto dramatically increase their available financial resources so that
\ntheir capacity to engage in the battle for Israel’s soul can be
\nenhanced?  WRJ, a great friend of ARZA, has now forged significant ties
\nwith many of our Israeli congregations.  ARZA is preparing to consider
\ntaking upon itself serious responsibility for the raising of funds for
\nthe IMPJ and for IRAC.  Reform\/Progressive leadership groups in America
\nand in Israel have begun long-delayed efforts to strengthen their
\nunderstanding of each other.<\/p>\n

And it was still only February 15th.  The marathon had only just begun.  More to come.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Stanley M. Davids is the Immediate Past President of ARZA. This post first appeared at RJ.org. Resa and I returned home to Jerusalem on January 25th. We plunged immediately into what has become a month long period of programs, meetings, encounters and conference calls.  We aren’t complaining. It’s just that the days aren’t long enough. First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}