Elana Sztokman

“When I see a women wearing a tallit, it burns my eyes,” an Orthodox man told me during the course of my research on Judaism and masculinity. “It makes the synagogue seem Reform or Conservative, where women are trying to me like men.” The statement was and remains jarring for so many reasons. I wonder how a man, who presumably walks into synagogue to pray, can be so disturbed by the sight of a woman cloaked and engaged in prayer all the way on the other side of the mehitza. I wonder why a woman in a tallit has the potential to disrupt a man’s entire Jewish identity, challenging his own self-definition as “Orthodox.” The statement, though, about a woman “trying to be like a man,” which has repeated itself in countless discussions — in person and virtual — is perhaps the most troubling and the most telling. The entire discussion of tallit is ultimately about men’s perceptions of women, and of themselves, and a need to maintain a gender status quo.

Anat Hoffman, who was detained recently and questioned, among other things, about whether or not women “were wearing tallit” (my word!), addresses some of these issues in a recent column in the Forward, entitled, “What women of the wall want” . Was she being “provocative”? No, she was just trying to fully, deeply, connect with God. The question really is, why is such an action by women considered “provocative”? That is the heart of the issue here.

Women of the Wall is sometimes accused of protesting against the “status quo” at the Western Wall. In fact, there is no status quo at the Wall — things change all the time. Men and women used to enter the Western Wall plaza together through the Jewish Quarter’s Dung Gate; in 1994, separate, gender-segregated entrances were created. Within the past decade, women soldiers were still allowed to sing the national anthem during ceremonies at the Wall — now they are instructed to be content with mouthing the words.

People sometimes ask us: “When will you achieve your goal?” This is a question one asks of a general. A general has soldiers, uniforms and a strategy. With Women of the Wall, we don’t know whether 10 or 100 women will show up each month — though we hope for 10,000. We have no uniforms, as we are a pluralistic group and come from all streams of Judaism. As far as strategy, we are only as bold as our least brave member.

Simply put, our goal is to obtain the freedom to pray and to do everything that is halachically permitted for women on the women’s side of the mechitza. This includes reciting prayers together that do not require a minyan, and, yes, most of all, it includes reading from the Torah. (Though it has been many years since we have been able to read from the Torah in the women’s section at the Wall.) At a minimum, we want to be allowed to pray at the Wall for one hour each month, free of injury and fear. This should not be a provocative request.

Read the rest of her article here.