{"id":409490,"date":"2010-03-09T15:51:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T20:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2546"},"modified":"2010-03-09T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2010-03-09T21:04:31","slug":"standing-with-our-sisters-at-the-kotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/409490","title":{"rendered":"Standing with Our Sisters at the Kotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shelly Lindauer is the Executive Director of Women of Reform Judaism. This post first appeared at RJ.org<\/a>.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n

In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa<\/i>, the Israelites begin to worry that Moses will not return from Mt. Sinai, and in
\ntheir fear encourage Aaron to create an idol, a molten calf.  Aaron said
\nto them “Men, take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives,
\nyour sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”<\/p>\n

According to Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 45, the women heard about the making of
\nthe Golden Calf and refused to give their jewelry to their husbands. The
\nwomen argued that the molten image was an abomination, and they would not
\nparticipate. God rewards the women with a holiday, Rosh Chodesh,
\nacknowledging their independence, wisdom, and piety. Rabbi Eliezer tells us the
\nwomen were to observe more new moons in this world than the men, and in the
\nnext world they would be renewed like the moon.
\n

\n<\/br.><\/p>\n

Men and women have different responses to stress, and reacted quite differently
\nto the anxiety generated by waiting for Moses to return. While men tend to have
\na “fight or flight” reaction, women – in the words of psychologist
\nShelley E. Taylor – approach stressful situations with a “tend and
\nbefriend” response. During times of stress women take care of
\nthemselves and their children (tending) and form strong group bonds
\n(befriending).<\/p>\n

I felt this extreme
\ndifference in response while praying at the Kotel <\/i>with Women of the Wall<\/a> two weeks
\nago. As Lynn described in her letter after the services, the group with
\nWomen of the Wall stood in the back of the women’s section of the Kotel<\/i>, and
\nbegan to pray and sing.  Men across the dividing wall shouted and punched
\ntheir fists in the air. I had a sense they were circling and were about to
\nstrike. In response to the yelling, the women in our group moved closer
\ntogether, feeling the comfort of each other and the protective shelter of our
\ngroup. While it is true that a few women also shouted at us in a very
\ndisturbing manner, what I felt about these women was incredulity that they
\ncould treat other women in such a degrading and compassionless way. I’m
\nsure there were women at Sinai, too, who willingly handed over their gold for
\nthe making of the Golden Calf.<\/p>\n

As we know in sisterhood-land, women are the heart and soul of many
\ncongregations. We are the caregivers and the nurturers, the first to offer
\nhelp and assistance to any in need. We advocate for social justice, and
\nprotect not only our own, but all those less fortunate. We create special
\nbonds, and feel an innate connection to other women. In these times of
\neconomic and social stress, let us not forget that we must stand up for that
\nwhich we know to be right, as did our sisters at Sinai. And, as we move closer
\nto each other for comfort and support, we are also moving closer to God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shelly Lindauer is the Executive Director of Women of Reform Judaism. This post first appeared at RJ.org. In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, the Israelites begin to worry that Moses will not return from Mt. Sinai, and in their fear encourage Aaron to create an idol, a molten calf.  Aaron said to them “Men, […]<\/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-409490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409490","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=409490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}