Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 25, 2012

Liberal Jewish groups and womens organizations nationwide and in Israel are protesting last weeks arrest of Anat Hoffman at Jerusalems Western Wall.

Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall and a longtime activist for womens rights in Israel, was arrested while she was leading a womens prayer service in violation of Israeli law.

While it was not the first time Israeli police have stepped in to stop her praying at the Wall, it was the first time she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she claims she was forced to strip naked and dragged across the floor.

In the United States, the Union for Reform Judaism called for a police investigation and expressed its dismay to Michael Oren, Israels ambassador in Washington, as did Conservative leaders. Oren released a statement

Israeli police arrest Anat Hoffman at Western Wall on Oct. 16. photo/jta-women of the wall

On Oct. 22, the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism spearheaded a global Shema flash mob a nod to the prayer Hoffman was reciting when she was arrested. People gathered at congregations nationwide to say the prayer at the same time (10 a.m. Pacific time). Many posted videos of themselves saying the Shema on the USCJs Facebook page, including a group at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga.

At Congregation Etz Chaim, an independent liberal congregation in Palo Alto, executive director Ellen Bob says 10 women showed up Monday morning, while others who had to be at work told her they would pause at

10 a.m. to recite the prayer. It was surprisingly moving, Bob said. I wanted to do it out of a deep sense of solidarity, but I didnt expect to get goose bumps.

In Israel, the Israel Religious Action Center, which Hoffman leads, launched a petition to the Supreme Court requesting that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which runs the holy site also known as the Kotel, change its decision-making process to include non-Orthodox Jews.

There is no voice around that table for women, for the paratroopers who liberated the Wall, for the variety of pluralist voices, said Hoffman. We want to dismantle this body. If the Wall belongs to the Jewish people, where are the Reform, Conservative, secular?

Read the original here:
Anat Hoffman’s arrest at Wall galvanizes U.S. liberal groups

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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