Women of the Wall

Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism's Holy Site

Phyllis Chesler, Rivka Haut

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781580237352
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

An Inspiration to All Who Struggle for Religious and Gender Equality

"Our souls yearn to pray, in peace, in the sacred place, to read from our holy Torah, together with other Jewish women."
—from the

In Israel today, the historic Western Wall, known as the Kotel, a holy site for Jewish people, is under the religious authority of the Orthodox rabbinate. Women have only limited rights to practice Jewish ritual in its precincts.

This passionate book documents the legendary grassroots and legal struggle of a determined group of Jewish women from Israel, the United States, and other parts of the world—known as the Women of the Wall—to win the right to pray out loud together as a group, according to Jewish law; wear ritual objects; and read from Torah scrolls at the Western Wall.

Eyewitness accounts of physical violence and intimidation, inspiring personal stories, and interpretations of legal and classical Jewish (halakhic) texts bring to life the historic and ongoing struggle that the Women of the Wall face in their everyday fight for religious and gender equality.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• Prayer for Women of the Wall: Rahel Jaskow
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Phyllis Chesler and Rivka Haut
• PART I: Women Who Pray at the Kotel: In Their Own Words
• PART II: Legal and Political Analysis
• PART III: Denominational Views
• PART IV: Halakhic Theory and Ritual Objects
• Epilogue: Rosh Chodesh Adar 5762 (2002): Chaia Beckerman, Betsy Kallus, and Rahel Jaskow
• A Chronology of Women of the Wall
• Notes
• Suggested Reading
• About the Contributors
• Index
• Photograph Section
• About the Editors
• Copyright
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