Today's big hullabaloo is that MK Aryeh Deri (Shas) is pushing forward the law proposal to mandate modesty at the Kotel, along with regulating prayer services. According to Deri's law proposal, anyone at the Kotel not dressed modestly will be arrested with the punishment of up to 6 months in prison. Same for wearing tefillin or tallis in the womens section and for taking a Torah scroll into the women's section or conducting mixed services in the area. Additionally, no speeches, signs, musical instruments or playng music at the Kotel, all punishable by up to 6 months in prison.

Behadrei is reporting that the Women of the Wall have submitted a complaint about the menorah lighting ceremony at the Kotel

Zeev Alperovitz of Merkaz Inyanim, a Haredi news media outfit not found on the Internet (that I know of), is reporting on an upcoming series of laws soon to be passed, or at least proposed. This series of laws is being seen as an anti-Haredi blitz of legislation, and MK Uri Maklev (UTJ) is supposedly working his connections to thwart them in advance from being raised and/or passed, campaigning quietly for support among religious and right wing coalition MKs.

Yesterday, the 2nd day of Rosh Chodesh Adar 1, MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv joined the service at the kotel held by the Women of the Wall.

Interestingly, Kipa is reporting on an initiative by an organization called "The Joint headquarters for Guarding the Holiness of the Kotel".

Well, it actually happened. After an organization meant to help improve the efficiency of the trains commented critically, and then retracted, on the installation of a booth for putting on tefillin in a train station, Minister of Transportation Betzalel Smotritch criticized them and said anybody can set up such a booth in train stations and if there is any trouble he will help get it approved.

I must say, he kept his word.

Today the Women of the Wall decided to set up a tefillin booth in the central Tel Aviv train station, as they had said they would. They had requested a permit in advance, but Smotritch never responded. They decided to go ahead with it anyway, but moments later the station manager told them to shut it down and leave. They turn to the administration of Israel Railways and to Minister Smotritch and the decision was quickly reversed and they were allowed to stay with their booth and offer passerby to lay tefillin.



I think Minister Smotritch was right to allow it. He could not really stop it, especially after what he said last week. Not allowing them to man the booth, or woman the booth is perhaps more appropriate, would have turned this into a fight that would have ended up all over the media and probably in the Supreme Court. This is not the Kotel and is not a Haredi or religious stronghold that would be considered a provocation. I think he was right to just let it be and succeed or fail on its own merits and public interest.

Though, according to Srugim, Smotritch denies he gave them the permit to stay. He says he is too busy with solving the public transportation crises of Israel and dealing with the traffic jams to get involved in this. Despite his denial, UTJ (among others) criticized Smotritch for allowing the WOW women to install the booth.

A "flurry" of tweets, that could have turned into a fight, turned funny, and still could turn into a fight.

An organization called "Ba Rakevet" is dedicated to reporting (on twitter) information about issues with the trains in Israel in order to encourage improved service. They report on delays, technical failures, and all sorts of problems.

Yesterday they tweeted the following:

אז ביררנו...
ואסור לפתוח דוכנים להנחת תפילין בתחנות הרכבת.
נתקלתם - דווחו לנו ונעביר הלאה לטיפול pic.twitter.com/g2gBZJUDTH

— בארכבת (@InTheRakevet) February 5, 2020

Reports have it that the monthly service on Rosh Chodesh organized at the Kotel by the Women of the Wall group was very poorly attended today. Articles say they had less than 20 participants.

A number of religious/frum media outlets are speculating that this might be foretelling the end of the monthly provocations. They surmise that after the failed attempt to bring 1000 women for the services last month, they have pretty much given up and did not make a big thing out of it this time.

I do not know why the regular number of participants did not participate this time. Perhaps some are out of town after the holiday, or others did not because of the rockets, or maybe just general disinterest. Either way, this basically just validates what I, and others, have said should be done to deal with this - let the women pray and just ignore them, and the numbers will dwindle to be irrelevant if it does not cause it to stop altogether. They thrive on the attention being given to them and explicit opposition to them causes and exacerbates the conflict and brings more people out turning the Kotel into a circus on these days.

The articles I saw did not get a statement from the Women of the Wall people in response. On their Facebook page no mention is made of the small turnout and predictions of their demise. They say they are proud of the fact that no fighting was necessary and they were able to have and read from a full Torah scroll.

Basically, just continue ignoring them.

The WOmen of the Wall have announced that in honor of the 30-year anniversary of them holding their monthly women's minyan at the Kotel, this Friday will be particularly special and their services will be made up of 1000 participating women. It will be so big they will use a sound system for the event.

They made an official request for the usage of a sound system. I am not sure what happened exactly as the article I read a few days ago said the Kotel Rabbi refused the request, but the Women of the Wall are still talking about the event with a sound system, so I am not sure what the status of that is.

Haredi leadership has just announced that they have obtained Rav Chaim Kanievsky's approval to send thousands of high school girls to the Kotel at 6:30 in the morning on Friday to oppose the chilul hashem with a grand kiddush hashem. In addition, they have planned services with participation of a couple thousand men to be accompanied by a sound system.

It will not be pretty at the Kotel this Friday, but if you are looking for some excitement, the showdown at the Kotel might be the place to be....

The truth is I am really curious to see if the Women of the Wall can really bring 1000 women, or even close to it, to participate in their services.

As part of the international Jewish project called "International Lay Tefillin Day", also known as "World Wide Wrap Day", on Sunday February 3 2019, the Women of the Wall group has decided to participate and will set up a stand in downtown Jerusalem to offer female passerby, in addition to males, to lay tefillin. This will actually be their fourth year of this project.

Though the Jerusalem City Hall at first rejected the permit request from Women of the Wall, they have now approved it and WoW will move ahead with it.
sources: Jewish Press, Kipa

I admit that when I first heard the news blurb on the radio, I thought Women of the Wall will be opening a tefillin stand at the Kotel, offering female daveners to lay tefillin, "competing" with the Chabad stand on the mens side of the Kotel mechitza. I am a bit surprised that this is not the case and they will be opening a stand only in downtown Jerusalem...

It is surprising they got the permit from the new City Hall. Perhaps that is an indication that there will be little, or no, fighting over this and everyone will just let it pass quietly and uneventfully...

headlines like these bother me so much. If it happened anywhere else, everyone would be screaming anti-semitism and that it evokes memories of the British Mandate period andd of other difficult times in Jewish history.

Kikar has a report about the monthly Rosh Chodesh fighting at the Kotel between the Haredi community and the Women of the Wall members and supporters. Today seems to have been a little bit unique because the WoW people wanted to bring in shofars to blow, as per the custom during the month of Elul at the end of davening.

The event turned violent, as it often does, and someone (on WoW's side) was arrested for acting violently against young protesting the WoW prayer service. Because they were expected to bring in shofars for blowing, the lawyer representing those opposing WoW requested from Avichai Mandelblit, the Attorney General, to ban WoW from bringing and using shofars at the Kotel.

The article does not say if he acceded to the request and banned the shofars or not, but implies that the women were doing something wrong and against the rules.

Even if I think the approach used against WoW is wrong and counter-productive, I can at least understand the opposition to women wearing tefillin in public and reading from torahs when making a minyan. I do not get what is wrong with women blowing shofar. As far as I am aware, the Shulchan Aruch and poskim do not call it yohara or haughtiness, as by teifllin, and there is seemingly nothing halachically inappropriate or disturbing about  a woman blowing the shofar. Women are allowed to blow the shofar, especially for themselves and for other women, and according to many even for men. And, the blowing of the shofar now is custom, not obligation, so it is even much more minor of an issue than, say, on Rosh Hashana itself. So, Israelis trying to ban Jews from blowing shofar at the Kotel reminds me of the stories of the British arresting Jews for blowing shofar at the Kotel on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and I do not understand what the opposition to it is about. They should just continue to focus on opposing the torah reading and tallis/tefillin wearing which makes more sense.

Korach was a Reform Jew. He was associated with the Women of the Wall. Really, he would have joined them. He is appropriate for the Women of the Wall, Korach is Women of the Wall.

  -- Rav Dovid Yosef, in his weekly shiur

In light of the recent tefillin incident in the airport in Israel in which a lady (turned out to be a professor of multi-cultural society studies) berated a Chabadnik for helping someone lay tefillin and also acted extremely childlishly and the overwhelming support offered by the public, both frum and not, for the Chabadnik as being in a public space and having the right to do what he did without bothering anybody, there is still what to consider.

A post in The Times of Israel blogs raised an interesting issue that should cause us all to take pause for a moment and consider our actions and responses. The post compared our reactions, the reactions of most people being the same, to this incident in which we all told her that it is a public space and she should mind her own business and they have just as much a right to be there and do their thing as she, and between our reactions to the fairly regular incidents at the Kotel of women, led by Women of the Wall, putting on tefillin and reading from the Torah and the reaction of Haredi people nearby and the reactions of people around the world who see the images.

When confronted with the Chabadnik putting tefillin on someone we said he is in a public space and has the right to do so, with a willing partner, and they should be left alone. Why is it that so many of us do not say the same thing regarding the Women of the Wall at the Kotel? They are putting on tefillin in a public space, everyone else should mind their own business - whether you like what they are doing or not/ Scream at them and whistle at them to disturb and harass them? What makes you, or us, any better than this childish professor in the airport?

I am open to hearing reasoned explanations as to what the differences are, as to why we can support the Chabadnik's rights but not the rights of Women of the Wall.

What has to be done to satisfy you? For the Western Wall rabbi to personally present you with a Torah scroll?

  -- Chief Justice Sohlberg, to representatives of Women of the Wall at the Supreme Court hearing about the canceled Kotel arrangement

The Supreme Court issued a court order to the police, to the Rav of the Kotel and to the Western Wall heritage Foundation to respond within 30 days with an explanation as to why they allow the regular disturbances by the Haredi women at the Kotel to continue disturbing the prayer sessions of the Women of the Wall by the women's section of the northern plaza of the Kotel.

They must explain why legal action has not been taken against those who try to disturb their prayers and why the Haredi women who disturb using whistles and the like are not removed from the area.

Behadrei points out that this approach by the Supreme Court indicates the Court is taking a "problematic" stance by not recognizing the southern plaza, what has become known as the Reform Kotel, as a solution for the monthly prayer services of Women of the Wall.

Personally I do not see why the Supreme Court must accept that as the solution when the Haredi parties and the government cancelled the agreement offering that as the solution. They themselves do not recognize it as the solution, why should the Supreme Court recognize it? If the Supreme Court would impose that as the solution, the Haredi MKs would have just as much of a problem with it as they did before. The Haredi MKs and community want no official solution because in their eyes any official solution grants Women of the Wall, and the Reform by extension, some form of legitimacy. They prefer that there be no decision but Women of the Wall use the Reform Kotel in an unofficial capacity. The problem is it does not work like that. The Courts will not impose something unofficially. They knew this would happen when they canceled the original agreement, and they knew the Court would be amenable to the other side. The original approach has not worked and they will most likely end up with a worse situation than what the original agreement would have provided.

The Women of the Wall are expanding their activities. Sort of.

Until now they mainly focused on bringing a group to daven at the Kotel once a month on Rosh Chodesh. We all know what happened every month when the WoW people showed up.

Anat Hoffman, director of Women of the Wall, has announced that tomorrow's Rosh Chodesh Iyar services at the Kotel will be in the theme and focus of Yom Haatzmaut. They will say the Prayer for  the State of Israel and sing Hatikvah and wave many Israeli flags. They will be bringing 250 students from various army-prep schools.
source: INN

They should have announced an additional visit to the Kotel in addition to the monthly Rosh Chodesh visit. They should have announced a special prayer service for WoW to be held at the Kotel on Yom Haatzmaut. Going on Yom Haatzmaut might even attract less of a fight, as on Rosh Chodesh many people, especially in the Haredi community, go to daven at the Kotel, but Yom Haatzmaut is, at least for most Haredim, just another day and it does not necessarily draw the masses to the Kotel (unless they are called to go special to oppose WoW). The Women of the Wall might have been able to get away with a quiet service, and with potentially little opposition might have been able to accomplish praying how they want to pray.

But is that really what they want? Maybe they only want to go on Rosh Chodesh when it will be a bigger fight? Maybe they do want to go Yom Haatzmaut but can't draw enough people for a second visit.

I don't know. It just seems silly to me to focus Rosh Chodesh service son Yom Haatzmaut instead of having a special service on Yom Haatzmaut.

But, hey, if Barak Obama could have a Pesach seder weeks before Pesach, and Chanukah parties weeks before Chanukah, and if the Rabbanut can push Yom Haatzmaut off by a day and celebrate on 6 Iyar instead of 5 Iyar, then WoW can celebrate Yom Haatzmaut a few days early.

this past Thursday was Rosh Chodesh..and that means a return to the monthly fights at the Kotel...

in this episode, WoW meets up with the WWE...

Back in the 80s this would qualify for the women's division known as GLOW - the Glamorous WOMen of Wrestling. Now it is a wrestling division known as the Divas...

photo credit: Joel Katz

mine:
Two States for Two People
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors