Yochi Rappeport, at The Blogs

Jul 10, 2023, 5:28 PM

Women of the Wall praying during Rosh Hodesh services.
Photo credit: Hila Shiloni Rosner

One of the cornerstones of a modern democratic society is the value placed on open discourse and debate culture. So what happens when people of opposing ideas are no longer willing to sit together and talk? It’s not only...

May 15, 2023, 6:19 PM

Yom Yerushalayim and the battle for tomorrow

Rosh Hodesh Iyar at the Kotel. Photo by Hila Shiloni Rosner

On June 7, 1967 Israeli paratroopers liberated and reunified Jerusalem, re-instilling its Jewish character. Decades later, the very paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall for the Jewish people joined Women of the Wall at the Kotel and dubbed us...

Mar 2, 2023, 3:54 PM

Israel isn’t a melting pot, and it shouldn’t be

Almost 75 years ago, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion envisioned Israel as a melting pot. Jews from around the world, most of whom were refugees, were to arrive in the Holy Land and become Israeli. What exactly does it...

Feb 19, 2023, 1:56 PM

Standing room only

Last weekend, my family and I took a mini vacation to the south of Israel and stayed at a hotel in Ashdod for Shabbat. I can’t say I’m ever a huge fan of hotel synagogues, but what I saw...

Oct 27, 2022, 2:20 PM

Progress in the public

“Kol Hakavod!” “Yasher Koach!” When my colleagues and I ran Women of the Wall’s lulav and etrog stand during Sukkot, we received overwhelming support from passersby – religious and secular, young and old, men and women. Almost no one batted...

Sep 13, 2022, 3:13 PM

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Why women’s spiritual leadership matters

Illustrative: Jewish women study Talmud at the women's beit midrash (study hall) in Migdal Oz, Gush Etzion, on January 2, 2019. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

The (male) rabbis taught me and my classmates to be proud not to participate Jewishly if it meant our husbands could do more. Now, girls have better role models

Jul 17, 2022, 12:11 AM

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Nazis and heretics and whores – oh my!

Haredi ultra-Orthodox Jews scuffle with police as they protest members of the Women of the Wall movement holding Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, March 4, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The same young people who tore up prayer books of fellow Jews – and would do it again -- are fasting to repent for the past mistakes of the Jewish people

Jun 2, 2022, 10:12 PM

Between patience and progress – a Shavuot message

“Listen, this is a new community and I appreciate that you’re willing to help us. But for most of the members, women reading Torah is a step too far. I can’t have you reading Torah AND wearing a tallit,”...

May 3, 2022, 5:27 PM

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Yom Hazikaron – Where are the women?

Female soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. (via Twitter)

How can it be that women, who have fought and died for Israel by the thousands, are not allowed to participate in the country's official Memorial Day service?

Mar 22, 2022, 10:51 AM

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The Purim paradox

Although women star in the Purim story and Judaism says women must hear the megillah reading, women jeered and disrupted our celebration at the Western Wall

About Me

Yochi Rappeport is the Executive Director of Women of the Wall. She was raised in Tzfat in an Orthodox family and served in the IDF as a commander in the Nativ Military Course - teaching Judaism and Zionism. She now lives in Jerusalem with her husband and two daughters, where they are part of a Modern Orthodox community that values feminism and pluralism.