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| Scene at the Kotel this morning (JTA) |
Yes, you read that correctly. Even though calling them both evil might be a little strong, it isn’t that far off.
On the one side is WoW (Women of the Wall). This is a group of women led by Anat Hoffman whose stated purpose for disrupting the atmosphere at the Kotel Plaza is to break yet another ‘glass ceiling’ for the greater glory of egalitarianism.
This was made yet again obvious by WoW’s refusal to relocate to another section of the Kotel reserved for them. They were redirected to that segment but refused to go. Instead they set up shop at in the women’s section of Kotel Plaza in order to publicly assert their rights to worship as they please anywhere along the Kotel. Regardless of how upsetting it is to those who have been doing it in the traditionally acceptable ways it has been done since the Kotel was liberated in ’67.
Up until a few years that custom was observed and honored by all comers, regardless of their level of observance, denomination, or even religion. There was never any protest. Just respect for tradition. Anat Hoffman decided to change all that. She and the rest of WoW have for the last few years actively been disrupting the Kotel Plaza every single month with their own version of worship
That is unfair to Orthodox Jews that come to pray there in traditional ways - and have been for over 50 years. I think it is safe to say that the amount of traditional prayer in which most Orthodox Jews engage daily exceeds by orders of magnitude that of most Heterodox Jews. The sight of WoW praying in such a boldly untraditional way is an unfair intrusion into the intensity of the those that engage in traditional prayer when they are at the Kotel. Even if WoW does so quietly, the mere sight - or even awareness of it is disruptive.
For Anat Hoffman, egalitarianism supersedes the atmosphere that traditional Orthodox worshippers have come to expect..
I know that some of the participants in WOW are observant. The argument by their supporters is that they do it only because they find it to be spiritually uplifting. That might very well be true. I don’t really question such motives if they are sincere – even though I strongly disagree with them. But when they refuse to relocate to an area of the Kotel that will not be disruptive - that tells astory about another underlying motive. Which is to break yet another glass ceiling. Their motives cannot therefore be entirely spiritual.
Which is why they repeatedly disrupt the quiet solemnity of the Kotel every month. The Kotel’s holiness is the same regardless of which part of it they pray at. By now they must know what will take place when they show up every month. Preferring the disruption they surely know will happen over the solemn atmosphere of another part of the Kotel tells you all you need to know about their primary goal.
That being said, if reports in JTA are anywhere near accurate - those that so vehemently protested it accomplished nothing except turning them into our enemies:
Thousands of black-attired young yeshiva students, both male and female, swarmed a group of about 100 women and a dozen men who accompanied them to the Western Wall, where traditional prayers were to take place at 7 a.m., ahead of the bat mitzvah of Lucia da Silva, 12, of Seattle, who came to Israel with her parents and godparents to celebrate the event…
Ushers working for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a state-funded institution, attempted to direct the women into a dedicated lane leading to a fenced-in corral but Women of the Wall refused. Instead, they headed to the center of the women’s section, adjacent to the men’s section of the Kotel, as the wall is known in Hebrew, to hold their service.
Clutches of girls dressed in black set upon the women, calling them whores and heretics and hollering that they should burn in hell. When confronted by Women of the Wall activists and asked for their names, three of the girls in unison replied, “I’m a minor.” Others blew whistles to prevent the women from praying out loud.
Now I have no issue with legitimate protest. If there are Yeshiva and women’s seminary students that feel strongly about an event, they surely have the right to protest it. But when the protests get ugly, their good intentions can easily pave the road to hell.
True - it might have only been a few extremists that behaved that way. Or maybe some of them just have got caught up in the moment. But that is no excuse. Apparently none of their protesting colleagues tried to stop them. That made them all look bad.
It turns what could have been a justifiable protest into an incident that chases secular Jews so far away from observant Judaism that there’s no hope of their seeing us in any other way except as violent fanatics. Those negative perceptions will only be enhanced by such incidents. Their view of Orthodox Jews as violent fanatics will be permanently imprinted into the collective brains. Secular Jews will run as far away from us as they can.
It isn’t only about trying to show them the beauty of an observant lifestyle. Even if they do not become observant, if they see us as a gentle, warm and welcoming community, they will at least have a positive image of us. Being called whores and heretics will instead perpetuate the negative images they already have. The road to Torah is paved with the ways of peace. Not the ugliness that characterized this event.