What Do They Really Want?

Image from Arutz Sheva

Any residual respect I may have had for the Women of the Wall is now history. Even though I was in profound disagreement with them, and believed that much of their motivation was a slavish loyalty to egalitarian ideals, I conceded the possibility that many - perhaps even most - of these women were genuinely interested in serving God in their own peculiar way. 

As many people have noted, no one can really know what the true motives are behind what these women do at the beginning of  every month. And it was wrong – and even a Chutzpah - to assume only the worst. As a Jew I have an obligation to be Dan L’Kaf Zechus… to judge them favorably.  But that is now almost impossible to do. If there was ever any question about the real intentions of these women, what happened this time should erase all doubt.

From the Arutz Sheva: 

While in the past, Women of the Wall activists have attempted to smuggle the scrolls in duffle bags, allegedly using IDF soldiers among others to sneak the items past plaza security checks, on Wednesday, guards at the entrance to the plaza found activists had concealed Torah scrolls underneath their clothes.

Following the revelation, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Rabbi of the Western Wall area, blasted the group, calling the smuggling attempt “a desecration”.

“Today, on the first day of the month of Elul, all of the red lines were crossed. They [Women of the Wall activists] smuggled holy Torah scrolls which were wrapped around their bodies and hid whistles in their private places, and for what? For the sake of a civil war at the Western Wall.” 

I could not agree more with Rabbi Rabinovitch. So married are they to the goal of equality with men that they are willing to pursue it by desecrating a Torah - hiding it under their clothing. This is clearly not about serving God at all. That anyone might think so after this is delusional.

For their part, the Women of the Wall deny this ever happened. But security guards there have no dog in this hunt. if anything a secular guard might be more inclined to agree with their egalitarian goals. I believe them. 

I guess that these women realized that sneaking Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) into the Kotel in duffle bags wouldn’t work any more. So they  figured they’d try to do something new and clever. It was clever. But it also exposed a motive that had nothing to do with their Godly mandate to be a holy people. Holy people do not hide Sifrei Torah  under their clothing so they can sneak them into places they choose to pray.

Making matters worse is the following: 

Women of the Wall responded, "The Kotel Rabbi is better off thinking less about what’s under women’s clothes, and more about what’s in their minds. 

The not so subtle implication is that the Kotel Rabbi is just a ‘dirty old man’ -  thinking about what is under women’s clothing. I guess it is not beneath them to smear their opposition by inuendo.

What they also don’t seem to realize is that acts like this shows exactly ‘what’s in their minds’: Making egalitarian statements at the Kotel regardless of the desecration it entails to one of the holiest objects in Judaism! 

The claim that all Women of the Wall  want to do is ‘pray respectfully according to their custom in the women’s section’ is laughable after this incident. Furthermore, that they have criticized Rabbi Rabinovitch for preventing them from ‘doing what every boy and man are allowed to do in the men’s section’ further exposes their feminist agenda.

Now supporters of feminism might say, ‘So what?!’ What’s wrong with feminism? Why is that not an ideal worth fighting for? …even in Judaism? 

I have addressed that question more times than I can count. All I will say about it now is that Judaism is not about egalitarianism. It is not about making men and women equal in every respect. It is about the obligation to do what God expects us to in order worship Him properly. Not about how we choose to worship Him. I could for example never do the sacrificial service on the alter in the Beis Hamkidash no matter how much I feel it would enhance my devotion to God. Only a Kohen may do that. 

Although some matters of service to God are discretionary, and women may do them – or are even encouraged to them - not everything that one wants to do – should they do. In those matters we seek clarity and guidance from tradition. We do not dismiss tradition just because it is no longer in vogue. But don’t tell that to the Women of the Wall, by gosh they are going to do whatever it takes to pray according to their custom, (which never existed as a custom until our time).

But let us even say that feminists seeking egalitarianism at the Kotel are right. OK. But let them be clear about their motives so that we can all know what the dispute is really about.  To claim this is only about serving God in a way that is most meaningful to them is either a blatant lie, or something that at least some of them have talked themselves into.

And finally to say that Rabbi Rabinovitch of represents an extreme minority is at best misleading. While it might be true that most secular Israelis support their egalitarian goals - that is support made in absentia.

The fact is that the vast majority by far that goes to the Kotel to actually pray (and not as a tourist attraction) and upon whom this has a direct impact do not support them. They may not all shriek about it. Or even vocalize it. They may just look aside. But there is no way that the majority of people that utilize the Kotel for holy purposes side with the Women of the Wall.

This was demonstrated a while back when hundreds if not thousands of young seminary girls were asked by their seminary heads go to the Kotel to pray in traditional ways at the same time that the Women of the Wall were scheduled to be there. They showed up there in overwhelming numbers in order to show their opposition.

The bottom line here is that we have to call a spade a spade. Let us recognize what this is really all about and them we can discuss it intelligently.