Voices for WRJ: Parashat Emor

Last month I was incredibly fortunate to be part of the WRJ Centennial Trip to Israel and Berlin. What an amazing experience! I still haven’t finished processing all that we saw and did as we went to so many interesting places and learned so much about how WRJ supports the work of Progressive/Reform Judaism in Israel and Germany. I continue to bask in the glow of the memories! One of the highlights of the trip for me was our participation in the Rosh Chodesh Nissan service with Women of the Wall (WOW). The central mission of WOW, which began in 1988, is “to achieve the social and legal recognition of our right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray, and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall.” Current Israeli law states that “no religious ceremony shall be held in the women’s section of the Western Wall.” This prohibition includes holding or reading a Torah, blowing a shofar, and wearing tallitot. Even though we knew that wearing tallitot and participating in the Rosh Chodesh service put us at risk of detention and potential disruption of our trip, we stood as one with the other Women of the Wall, which is what we now were, too. The solidarity and support that we drew from one another was incredible; I was so proud to be a participant! Several of the women praying with us were members of WRJ-Israel who we had met and spent time with earlier in the trip. For at least one woman, this was her first time as a participant in a service at the Western Wall, and it was the presence and support of our WRJ-North American group that led her to be there. I am certain that others will now follow her example and become active with WOW. Fortunately, there were no detentions this day, possibly due to the first-time participation in the service by three female Knesset members, and our trip continued without interruption. We had decided ahead of time, though, that we would all stay together no matter what happened. If anyone got detained, the whole group would remain as close as possible to her until she was released. It was very comforting to know that we were there for each other, no matter what happened. This is how WRJ women stand together to fight for what is right! There were many other fabulous pieces of our trip, but the very best part of all is that I now have 27 new “sisters” with whom to share the wonderful memories! Jeanne W. Kahn is a WRJ Board Member and member of Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, MD.