A (c)hair raising experience

March 17, 2010 - 10:43 PM by

Praying in the Jewish tradition can be hazardous to your health – at least if you’re a woman at the Kotel.

On every Rosh Hodesh – the Women of the Wall - a coalition of Conservative, Orthodox and Reform women – gather on the women’s side of the Wall for the morning Shaharit service. And on every Rosh Hodesh, there violent attempts by seemingly religious men to stop them.

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On Tuesday, chair throwing was the violent act of choice. Rena Magen, one of the participants in the service described it like this:

I thought you would like to see this video of our “c-hair raising” experience at the Kotel this past Tuesday when I went to daven with the Women at the Wall.. it was not even 7:00 am yet (the starting time of the minyan) and we were simply standing around waiting, not even 10 of us.

All of a sudden, chairs started flying at us from the men’s side of the mechitzah, with great force. About 10 total, one after the other, very quickly. It was so outrageous that we hardly had time to be afraid. I am amazed that whoever shot this clip had the presence of mind to do so.

The police came quite quickly after it was all over and from that moment on there were MANY police guarding us on either side of the mechitzah. We had a nice service after that, complete with the requisite angry incessant shouting from the men and the nasty comments and curses from the women.

The group’s next minyan is Thursday, April 15, Rosh Chodesh Iyar. Let’s make it a big one…

Tags: , , , , , • Category: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Social Justice 

Comments

2 Comments on A (c)hair raising experience

  1. Brian Temecula on Sun, Mar 21st 2010 1:08 AM

    2. I laughed when the woman said, “I actually wanted to sit down, and I didn’t see any chairs”. I was thinking the same thing.

  2. Michael Waterman on Wed, Mar 24th 2010 7:35 PM

    3. As a Jew, I am ashamed of this behavior. Would God REALLY want us to treat women… Jewish women …. Jewish women who are studying Torah …. this way? The ultra-Orthodox are SO confused. They, like other fanatic, fundamentalist lunatics – are turning people OFF from religion. The Jews of Israel need to see that one can be a good, observant Jew and live in the 21st century. That is the message of the Masorti/Conservative movement.
    Judaism is wonderful. What these ultra-Orthodox nuts are doing is Chilul HaShem, an abomination and heresy – it is NOT Judaism.

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