The War on Women’s Religious Freedom

A SYTYCB Entry

Four people were arrested on Sunday in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.

It’s not for the reason many people would think when they hear the words ‘arrest’ and ‘Israel’ together. They weren’t terrorists, nor were they carrying weapons of any kind. They weren’t protesting to uphold the sanctity of the Jewish day of rest or against the settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.

Their crime? Wearing the ritual Jewish prayer shawl (known as a tallit) while female.

Halacha (Jewish law) distinguishes many of its provisions based on the gender. Men bear a heavier load of obligations than do women, among those the commandment to wear the tallit, along with tefillin (leather arm and head bands with boxes attached containing biblical verses affirming the oneness of God). These laws are heavily enforced in Israel, where all religious matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Rabbinate, the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for all Jews residing in Israel. The women in question were taken into custody for violating the law regarding tallits at none other than the Western Wall, the most holy site to the Jewish people, and a place firmly under the Rabbinate’s control.

These women were part of a protest movement in Israel called the Women of the Wall (WOW). A female prayer group, WOW meets once a month, at the new moon (which marks the start of the month on the Jewish calendar), to pray at the Western Wall. Unlike the traditional prayer fashion at the Wall – which is silent and individual – WOW prays out loud as a group, to the chagrin of the ultra-Orthodox men on the other side of the divide (the area directly in front of the Western Wall is partitioned into two sections, one large one for the men, and a smaller one for the women). Many also make the decision to wear a tallit, much like the four women arrested this weekend.

The four women arrested weren’t the only ones at the service. Jewish law stipulates that to be able to hold a minyan (a gathering of Jews to pray) ten Jewish adults must be present. Most of the other women at this service were wearing prayer shawls as well. So why were these four the only ones arrested? According to the Jerusalem Post:

The four women who were detained were wearing black and white or plain white tallitot, whereas the rest of the group were wearing more colorful prayer shawls.The police generally tolerate the wearing of the decorative tallitot by women, and only take exception to women wearing the black and white, blue and white or completely white shawls, which they view as being the preserve of male worshipers.

These four women weren’t simply arrested for wearing a tallit. They were arrested for wearing a tallit that was explicitly a man’s tallit. Had they been wearing a woman’s tallit, they might not have been arrested.

As a young Jewish woman, I have been wearing a tallit (and tefillin) since I reached the age of legal Jewish adulthood. It has always been a source of consternation for me that I am banned from full participation in Jewish ritual in the holiest of Jewish places, simply because of my gender. I find it even more vexing that there is a notion of male ritual items and female ritual items. Why are we divided, simply by our gender? Do we really believe that God would want us to be separated so?

Last December I had the opportunity to pray with Women of the Wall, alongside my  mother, who has long been a vocal supporter of the movement. I had my reservations about going – incidents like this one are, unfortunately, far too common in the ultra-Orthodox dominated world of Israel, and I feared being caught up in one. To my surprise, we faced almost no antagonism, just one women trying to quiet us, and an older man yelling. We were lucky. But these four women, and countless others, are not.

The Israeli law behind all this states that conducting a religious ceremony “contrary to accepted practice” or that may “hurt the feelings of other worshipers” at a holy site is forbidden. But who should determine what that is? I know it hurts my feelings when I’m not allowed to wear my tallit at the Western Wall. However, according the ultra-Orthodox rabbis of the Rabbinate, I cannot enjoy this privilege. But what gives them any more right to decide what is or is not acceptable practice?

Jewish history is full of strong females, women like the Matriarchs and the Seven Prophetesses (Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther) who took control of their own destinies and radically shaped the future of Judaism and Jewish practices and values. To me, it seems like an insult to their memories to push women to one side and marginalize them in the Jewish world. Without many of these women, Judaism as it is known and practiced today would not exist. Women have long been an integral part of Judaism and the Jewish world. It’s time we rose up and reclaimed that place.