Comments on: When in Rome

By: Maud Grobeh

Maud Grobeh — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:03:12 +0000

another thing which I find ironic is that by wearing talleism and tefillin they are emulating the group that they disagree with and denigrate. the talis and tefillin are ritual objects used in traditional prayer , by jewish men who follow the Torah and believe in its precepts. Which men are they trying to copy. The ones who pray every day wrapped in their tallis and tefillin, or the ones who don't. well. ladies, here's a news flash. You are copying the very men you choose to offend. Makes no sense.Oh, and don't try to tell me that non-Orthodox men also wear tallis and Tefillin. Sure they may, but when they do they know they are following an ancient Torah practice, not something modern and new age , or invented in the last centuryanda half.Tefillin straps are amongst the thousands of year old finds currently on display in the israel museum with the Dead Sea scrolll exhibition. We follow tradition and Torah… Draw your own conclusions. of what these women are trying to do.

By: Maud Grobeh

Maud Grobeh — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:38:15 +0000

what no one should forget is that all people, jewish and non-jewish are welcome at the kotel, provided they do not offend the sensibilites and sanctity of this Holy Place. For, example , smoking inthe Kotel plaza is not allowed on Shabbos and , women are asked to dress modestly. This is not aimed at any specific group. All visitors are asked to uphold the sanctity of the Holy place. The women of this group would not dream of going to the vatican or to a mosque and not abide by the local, religious customs. of covering their hair, or taking of their shoes , dependng on the custom. BY insisting on behaving in a way publicly which is not in accordance with traditional Jewish practice, they are spitting in the face of tradition, mocking judaism and basically, doing it all for the provocation value. They can pray privately as they choose.They can pray at the Kotel without making a spectacle, or they can have their services at Robinson's arch. Let's not forget that there is a much larger group of Kotel women. who pray there daily. and also find this type of provocation offensive. Imagine the following scenario."Hey, I'm making a Bar -mitsvah, and I want to have it at the kotel, and I want to have mixed dancing too. at the kotel. why not, it's my choice to worship as I choose. "yeah, it may be your chioce, but not at a public Holy site. there you behave in accordance with the local tradition and respect it. These women don't have respect.

By: Ruth Ben-Or

Ruth Ben-Or — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:31:20 +0000

Dov, I wondered how long it would be before somebody made a fatuous comment like that.The birds and the bees are natural phenomena, cultural norms posing as religion are not.Why do you want Rachel to perform a brit milah on you, anyway, that sounds unbeliveably immodest and perverse to me.

By: Cyril Atkins

Cyril Atkins — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 08:42:37 +0000

The women who insist on praying at the Kotel in a manner that differs from that which is the norm are demonstrating that they feel inferioor to men and thus must emulate them. They are uncfomfortable as women and emulate the "Ammie get your gun" in saying" anything you can do I can do better." They are like other feminists who wish to ape men because they think they are inferior. Women as women in Judaisn when behaving as women are really equal to men but have different roles. When men have babies then perhaps things may be different. Women have always been the ones who instill judaism into their children and are thus revered when they act a s women.

By: Varda Epstein

Varda Epstein — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:12:00 +0000

נשות הכותל And this just in: http://cifwatch.com/2013/02/19/examining-a-rumor-about-israel-started-by-women-of-the-wall-and-repeated-by-the-guardian/

By: Varda Epstein

Varda Epstein — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:04:17 +0000

What you said, Rivka. Amen.

By: Varda Epstein

Varda Epstein — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:59:57 +0000

The photos accompanying this blog post belie these claims. Your gatherings are flamboyant photo opps requiring such props as ex-paratroopers for your supposed defense.

By: Rivka Gornall Leiner

Rivka Gornall Leiner — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:45:54 +0000

If you consider yourself a minyan and say kadish and kedusha then charedi women cannot be part and I would say it is a far stretch for any Orthodox woman. Ditto reading from the Torah. There is not a men's Judaism and a woman's Judaism.

By: נשות הכותל

נשות הכותל — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:55:51 +0000

Women of the Wall do not 'want things to get rough'. In fact we are very pleased that the other worshipers at the Kotel have abstained from violence against us for many years now. Recently a Haredi woman said somewhat condescendingly but very kindly to us: "You're on the right path …!" And answered "baruch hu barush shmo" during our kedusha… Varda, we stand far away from any other groups and so far away from the men's section, we surely do not bother anyone during our tefilah. We are thrilled that the Israeli public is supporting our struggle and that our numbers at the Kotel on Rosh Hodesh are growing.

By: Rachel Cohen Yeshurun

Rachel Cohen Yeshurun — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:32:40 +0000

Why do you impose your way on everyone else? Even if your way is 'older' than my way (that argument you like about Orthodoxy being 'thousands of years old' is sorely lacking in historical accuracy) – does that make it right? Does that make it even more Jewish? Is an 8 day old baby born to a Jewish mother less Jewish than an 80 year old Tzakik?

By: Rachel Cohen Yeshurun

Rachel Cohen Yeshurun — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:32:01 +0000

Varda, this may come as a surprise to you but here it is: The practices of the Haredim are very offensive and shocking to non-haredim. I am not talking about deviant behaviour chas v'shalom which exists in both the Haredi and non Haredi world. I am talking about things like wearing heavy black clothing in the summer, it is shocking and quite smelly too. But there is worse – the Haredi monopoly on Israeli civil and religious life is really unbearable.

By: Rachel Cohen Yeshurun

Rachel Cohen Yeshurun — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:15:40 +0000

Varda, any time you explain what a word means you are giving an interpretation. In fact even the nikud (punctuation) is an interpretation on the torah which is written without vowels. (As I well know since I am a ba'alat kriyah). So your interpretation of the word וַתֵּצֶאן is interesting but you are not correct to say that it is the literal meaning of the word. I agree that there is no doubt from the text that it was only the women who danced with Miriam. But nothing in the text implies that Miriam moved away from the men. The opposite, the word ותצא is used in other contexts such as in the story of Dina's rape – chazal say that she 'went out' with lack of modesty. So here we have conflicting interpretations. I love Torah!

By: Ben Needleman

Ben Needleman — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:09:50 +0000

*by

By: Ben Needleman

Ben Needleman — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:03:27 +0000

Doron, those were illustrations not the core of my argument.

Here is the core:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot

Unfortunately we will never see who is right. We will both die and be eaten while worms.

By: Ben Needleman

Ben Needleman — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:57 +0000

given we pay for your ambulances, hospitals, schools, national parks etc no doubt we have the right to an opinion.
Regardless of that fact, your argument is still stupid.
Just because I dont live in Russia doesnt prevent me from criticising putin