Just Another Brick In the Wall




The case of Anat Hoffman: arrested at the Kotel for saying the Shema out loud. Arrested for being a Jew who wants to pray at our holiest site. Arrested for being a woman in a man’s world. I have a great respect for all Jews and I respect their right to worship as they wish. From Orthodox to Reform, Jews have many different ways to serve God. What is most important is that we share the same goals- to do Mitzvot and to better the world. As someone who chose to be Jewish I have always cherished the idea that as a religious community we have more in common than the things that divide us into the various modern denominations.

In the last week many people have spoken out against the unfair treatment women receive when they pray at the Kotel. Like many things, this situation will never be resolved until the State of Israel recognizes the pluralistic nature of modern Jewish religious life. That will never happen until there is a coalition government that does not need the support of the religious parties. One of the paradoxes of the State of Israel is that all Jews are welcome but, because of politics, not all kinds of Judaism are welcome.

The arrest of Anat Hoffman is an embarrassment to me. It also makes me feel like a hypocrite- after all the complaining that all of us do about the way Islam treats women as second class people look what we have done. No, I am not comparing the Israeli Rabbinate to Mullahs- Islam could learn from us for a thousand years and still not catch up- but I am comparing the situation that leads to needless unequal treatment. No, Anat Hoffman will not be flogged or put in prison but she did have to agree to stay away from the Kotel for 30 days. Why should any Jew be denied the right to worship there?

Anat Hoffman and the group known as “Women of the Wall” are making an important statement: the Israeli Rabbinate cannot ignore the religious rights of women nor can they exist in a vacuum that ignores the religious sentiments of Diaspora Jewry. Maybe the most positive lesson that we can glean from this situation is to appreciate and praise an overlooked segment of the Israeli population. Perhaps the greatest spiritual heroes are those individuals who, though not Orthodox, choose to live in Israel because of their religious convictions. Conservative and Reform Jews who make aliyah often do so with the “religious” deck stacked against them. Their services will be held in schools and rooms, their “rabbis” will not be sanctioned to perform many life cycle events, yet they go to Israel to fulfill the Mitzvah of Aliyah. Anat Hoffman and many such men and women are the true heroes- fighting to make Medinat Yisrael a place for all Jews.