Am Shalom

The following press release came out today from the Women of the Wall. This shows great progress for the State of Israel.

April 25, 2013 

Women of the Wall Win Major Victory in District Court Decision

Police Appeal Rejected, Women’s Prayer Does Not Disturb Public Order, Does Not Violate Law

Anat Hoffman, “Today Women of the Wall Liberated the Western Wall for all Jewish People.”

The Jerusalem District Court handed down its decision today in The State of Israel, Israel Police vs. Lesley Sachs, Bonnie Riva Ras, Sylvie Rozenbaum, Rabbi Valerie Stessin, and Sharona Kramer, the five women who were arrested on April 11, 2013 while praying at the Western Wall. Judge Moshe Sobel decided against the police appeal, supporting fully the Magistrates Court decision by Judge Sharon Lary-Bavly, which stated that there was no cause for arrest and that the women did not disturb the public order. The women were released with no conditions and the police’s request for a restraining order from the holy site was once again rejected in no uncertain terms.

Sobel continued to further interpret the various legal roadblocks that have been used against Women of the Wall throughout years of struggle to pray freely at the Western Wall:

The Judge declared that the Supreme Court decision of 2003 never intended to serve as an injunction which would apply criminal violations to women. Likewise this decision did not ban Women of the Wall from praying at the Kotel. He added that there is no reasonable suspicion in which the women are violating the Supreme Court decisions. In reference to the Supreme Court recommendation that the women pray in Robinson’’s Arch, Sobell declared that this does not prohibit the women from praying at the Western Wall in the women’s section, and certainly it does not imply a criminal violation for this act.

Regarding the restriction within the Law of Holy Places in which visitors at the Western Wall are to pray and hold religious celebrations according to the “local custom”, the judge declared that the women are not violating this law. He stated that the legal proceedings of Women of the Wall establish that the “local custom” is to be interpreted with National and pluralistic implications, not necessarily Orthodox Jewish customs. Thus, the accused women did not violate this law.

In reference to the accusation of endangering or disturbing the public peace, the judge ruled that even if the women had behaved in a way that disturbed the public order, they were never a danger to the public peace. The women were in no way suspect of violent or verbal behaviors that would endanger the public.

Judge Sobel ruled that there are to be no limitations imposed on the accused women.

Adv. David Barhoum and Adv. Einat Horovitz represented Women of the Wall in Court. Barhoum said, “The fact that the District Court adopted the ruling of the Magistrates Court bears great weight, and this shows a changing legal reality which will effect any future arrests of Women of the Wall. There is no doubt that this decision is crying out and calling to the authorities to change their approach to the prayers of Women of the Wall.” Horowitz asserted, “The most important aspect of this ruling is the fact that Women of the Wall’s prayer in the women’s section of the Western Wall does not violate the “local custom” and therefore does not imply a reasonable doubt of violation of the Law of Holy Places The court has rejected any reasonable cause for a policy of repeated detainment and arrests of Women of the Wall by police.”

Anat Hoffman, Women of the Wall Chair said, “Today Women of the Wall Liberated the Western Wall for all Jewish People. We did it for the eight year old girl who can now dream of having her Bat Mitzvah at the Wall, and for the grandmother who cannot climb on a chair in order to see her son’s Bar Mitzvah. We did it for the great diversity of Jews in the world, all of whom deserve to pray according to their belief and custom at the Western Wall.”

posted Nov. 27, 2012

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, recently visited Israel with the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations. It was an unscheduled trip that came together in the wake of the recent situation between Israel and Gaza, “Operation Pillar of Defense.”

Yesterday, Rabbi Jacobs offered his reflections on his trip. Here is the recording of that conference call.

While he was in Israel, Rabbi Jacobs met with members of the Israeli Reform community. He visited Kibbutz K’far Aza, which sits on the Gaza border. Here is a video where one kibbutz resident speaks of what life is like living so close to Gaza.

On Tuesday, Anat Hoffman (executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center) once agan was arrested and detained for wearing a tallit and for singing the Shma (“disturbing public order”) at the Wall in Jerusalem.

This occurred during a Rosh Chodesh service in the woman’s section with 250 other participants, including representatives of Hadassah who are celebrating 100 years in action. You can read about the details here. Continue reading »

The Yamim Nora’im (High Holy Days) are a time for each of us to reflect on the year that has passed, our behaviours and actions, and our connection to each other and to God. Please take a few minutes to complete the following questionnaire that I created (based on a survey created by Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro) about God. I will analyze and synthsize the results and will then reflect on them during Yom Kippur services.

We are in the midst of the Hebrew month of Elul, the month that immediately preceeds Tishrei when we welcome in the new year. Elul is traditionally a time for reflection and contemplation, a time to review our actions and behaviours of the past year. Continue reading »

TODAY IS THE 16TH DAY OF THE OMER! …but what is it all about?

The period between Pesach and Shavuot is called the “Counting of the Omer” (sefirat ha’omer), after the ancient rite of the bringing of the first sheaf (omer) of the barley harvest to the priest (Lev. 23:9-14). This ceremony began “on the day after the shabbat” (23:11), which the rabbinic tradition understands to mean the day after the festival, that is, the second day of Pesach. Starting from that day, the Torah also instructs that “you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days” (23:15-16). The festival of Shavuot is observed on the fiftieth day.The term Omer means “barley sheaf” and refers to the offering brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover. According to the Bible (Leviticus 22:15):

The counting, which lasts for forty-nine days, takes place at night, commencing with the second night of Pesach. Those who “count the Omer” recite the following benediction:

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us
with mitzvot, and commands us concerning the counting of the Omer.

(Courtesy of the Union For Reform Judaism)