The topic of women praying at the Western Wall has been an ongoing debate not only among ultra-orthodox Jews and feminists, but now the Women of the Wall (WOW) are becoming divided on the issue of where to pray at the wall. While on November, 4, 2013, the group celebrated their 25 anniversary, it is at this moment in the group’s history that they are the most divided. In his article, “Women of Wall Deeply Split over Anat Hoffman’s Acceptance of Prayer Deal,” Nathan Jeffay discusses the issues WOW is currently facing both internally and externally.
In October of 2013, WOW decided to move their demonstrations from the Kotel's prayer gallery for women to a quieter piece of the wall known as Robinson’s Arch. The group denies allegations that this move was due to ultra-Orthodox anti-WOW demonstrations held at the Kotel’s section in the past. The decision to move was approved by the WOW board by a 9-2 majority. While this ratio portrays that the majority of the group supports the decision to move, there are many women who are devastated by this decision. Twenty-one WOW founders have signed a petition stating that they will continue to fight for the ability to pray at the Kotel plaza because for many of these women, Robinson’s Arch is simply a second-rate site.
The organization’s decision was made in the midst of Israeli government negotiations on creating an egalitarian section of the wall. The group has been asked to be involved in the planning process of these negotiations; however, in return for their involvement, they must agree to stop wearing prayer shawls and reading Torah at the Kotel’s women’s section. So now the problem for the group is this: if it cannot contain its rebels from continuing to pray at Kotel, it could...
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... at the wall. Progressive women and laws allowing these women to pray at the wall would signal a change in the political demographic. The ultra-orthodox control would slowly begin to fade. This could be extremely terrifying for a group that has been known to cast other forms of Judaism as invalid. For ultra-orthodox Jews, it would mean individuals who are not really Jewish would have control in Jerusalem.
The topic of women praying at the Western Wall has been an ongoing debate not only among ultra-orthodox Jews and feminists, but now the Women of the Wall (WOW) are becoming divided on the issue of where to pray at the wall. It is at this moment in the group’s history that they are the most divided. The group is discovering how they, as women, can achieve equality to Jewish women can experience the same closeness to God and tradition that has long eluded them.
Turniansky, Chava. "Glueckel of Hameln." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. September 26, 2011 .
Working Together in Robert Frost's Mending Wall. The air is cool and crisp. Roosters can be heard welcoming the sun to a new day and a woman is seen, wearing a clean colorful wrap around her body and head, her shadow casting a lone silhouette on the stone wall. The woman leans over to slide a piece of paper into one of the cracks, hoping her prayer will be heard in this city of Jerusalem.
... fighting for a Jewish cause. This book carefully examines exactly how much Wald distanced herself from her Jewish heritage. Marjorie N. Feld did a wonderful job of portraying Wald as not only a strong, independent woman, but firm in her belief of universalism not particularism. Although the book is written in a highly academic format Feld was able to give the story of Lillian Wald in a matter that allows all who read it to appreciate and understand her work. Wald is the kind of woman all people should hope to meet in their life. After a few pages readers will find themselves intrigued at how well the book was written, Feld inserts quotations from Wald herself that quickly and concisely show the kind of woman she was. This book should be read by anyone who has an interest in the progressive era, women’s rights, or simply the rights of all the world’s diverse people.
By her admission the women volunteers of the social welfare organizations were predominantly middle and upper-class. Deeb does not consider how women from other socio-economic groups pursue and engage in piety and modernity, and how they view “authenticated Islam.” As such Deeb’s description of an authenticated Islamic community in al-Dahiyya seems to represent the formulations provided by a privileged class of women. The absence of other socio-economic is coupled with a cursory description of the peripheries of the community. Less emphasis is placed on the inhabitants of al-Dahiyya who are marginalized and excluded from the enchanted modern. A greater study of how authenticated Islam is understood by member of other socio-economic classes and the more marginalized members of the community would have given a greater insight, not only into the development of the enchanted modern, but also the social dynamics which govern
"Jewish Resistance". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
The significance of representing such a history is that it may open William Beckford’s narrative of the Arab Muslim woman to a new analysis and judgment. It may, as well, help in “allowing us to see them [Arab Muslim women] not as "culminations" of a natural truth, but "merely the current episodes in a series of subjugations" (Foucault 1977, 148)” (mohja), and to differentiate between them as represented in Western texts whose feet never touch earth, and the real –flesh and blood–ones whose “feet touch earth in Hamah or Rawalpindi or Rabat.”( MOHJA)
This essay will focus on the Jewish women living in the medieval society of Ashkenaz, a region of northern France and Germany, around the time of 1000-1300 CE. Several questions will be addressed pertaining to the social status, educational opportunities, and their participation in society will be examined. Although not much was written about the women of that time, scholars who have analyzed translated Hebrew texts, laws, religious rituals, municipal records, and medical texts can provide arguments with careful insight into their lives. Avraham Grossman, a Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Elisheva Baumgarten both advocate the argument of women advancing in society, however they also provided some contrasting insight. In Grossman’s Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe, he examined how several legal rulings made by Rabbi Gershom empowered women in the social, religious, and economic sphere, while discrimination in education held them back. Baumgarten, who mentions Grossman’s work in Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, and her other novel Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe expanded Grossman’s argument further into the religious sphere, focusing on rituals ,which dominated Jewish society. She focused on empowerment and discrimination women went...
What does it mean to be Jewish or Muslim, or even Christian? What does an understanding of the history that intertwines faith and culture matter to how we live within those religious labels? The Red Tent and Stranger to History, while both using a different perspective, explores the connection between history, culture, and faith traditions, and how we must look at the past to understand our own present and future. Religious experience is distinctly different for women than it is for men, which is evident in Diamant’s portrayal of the silent roles females played in pre-Jewish culture. In contrast, Taseer discusses an experience from a uniquely male view, though both ask the same question: Why do the histories matter?
Robert Gluck “Holocaust resistance of White Rose group remembered 70 years later” jns.org Augest 4 2013. April 11 2014.
The Ghetto’s Fighter House Institution is located outside of Akko, Israel. This institution includes Jewish artworks, photographs, and writin...
The fight for the liberty of women, above all, has not been well constructed. It has been driven by selfish, militant agendas propelled by women with strong hate for both men and family, and some of whom drive lesbian causes. Although this is not the whole picture, those who follow the movements may bear witness to some such overtones. But women as well as men are bearers of the image of God and therefore must be treated accordingly.
One very big argument against women becoming equal within a Jewish marriage is that the laws of Orthodox Judaism make women unequal. If the religion is sexist, then how will the followers be equal? Since Judaism shows signs of inequality, if a woman wants to become equal.
Today, women share the same equal rights and opportunities as men; nevertheless, that has not invariably been the case. Before the Jazz Age era, gender discrimination between men and women in society was considerably popular. Women were seen as inferior to men. Their jobs were to care for the home, children, and other domesticated duties while men were able to work, get an education, and become doctors or lawyers. Many women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, Zora Hurston, to mention a few, seen the unfairness in women's rights and fought for equal rights for women through different movements, efforts, protests, and even marches to abolish women’s rights. As a consequence, women now pursue not only higher education and higher paid jobs/ businesses, but their rights. One of the world’s most controversial issues among churches of today is the role of a woman. Many people are confused about the duty of a woman and how she is supposed to serve God because of history. History taught us to never deny someone of gender, race, or even diversity since he or she has human rights. However, this issue should not be viewed as men versus women because this is not a political issue; instead, it should be viewed as the structural of a church. Women should not be priests, pastors, or even rabbis for God condone women for being priests, pastors, and rabbis as well as proscribed.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...