Rosh Chodesh Elul

This Wednesday morning, I again woke early to join Women of the Wall for Rosh Chodesh Elul at the Kotel. Again a large group of more than 100 women gathered on the women’s side of the mehitza, and male supporters joined in solidarity opposite us on the other side. Elul marks the beginning of the daily sounding of the shofar and the chanting of penetential prayers as we move towards the High Holidays, and you can feel changes in the air as the days begin to shorten, and the summer begins to move closer to its end and the new year approaches. This month Anat Hoffman, the leader of Women of the Wall, could not join us, as she is still banned from the Kotel, so she waits for us at the entrance to the Southern wall with the Torah.



In the bright sunlight that began to move across the Kotel plaza, we chanted the morning prayers, and listened to the sounds of men praying on the other side of the mechitza, the divider; and listened to the sounds of both men and women screaming and cursing at us for daring to pray in a group and allow the sounds of our voices singing to be heard. We chanted Hallel, loudly, amid admonitions to “shush” and “lower your voices”, praising God for the new month that had arrived. We listened to the sounds of several shofarot being blown across the divider, in the men’s section, and then recited the blessing to hear the sound of our shofar, as it been sounded at the Kotel by Anat Hoffman, for these past 21 years. We said the blessing, and then as we listened, instead we did not hear it, because the shofar was snatched out of the hands of the baalat tekiah (shofar blower) by the chief of police.

We were then able this month to move calmly to the Robinson’s Arch at the Sourthern wall where Anat met us with the Torah. While several women donned tefillin, as is their daily custom, the Torah was prepared for reading. I was delighted to recognize several friends in the crowd, including Rabbi Jackie Koch Ellenson, director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and Cantor Rikki Lippitz, who lives in New York but is from my home congregation (where I grew up). Here we heard several shofarot blown, as well as beautiful Torah readings.

Opponents of the group question why Women of the Wall doesn’t just settle for holding all of their davening here at the Southern Wall. The answer is simple - the wall belongs to the entire Jewish people. It is not an orthodox synagogue. It is a symbol for all Jews. That is why the MK Nitzan Horowitz, leader of the Knesset’s lobby for civil equality and pluralism plans to introduce a bill that proposes the Kotel be divided into three sections, including a space which is non-segregated and inclusive. Stay tuned.

For more:
Jerusalem Post: Women of the Wall to Hold Kotel Services
Rosh Chodesh Elul and Women of the Wall
Time Magazine: In Israel, A Fight to Make the Wall More Inclusive
The Forward: For the First Time Since Leaders Arrest, Women of the Wall Gather Amid Angry Protest
Perfect Harmony