ARZA

By Anat Hoffman Talk radio is very popular in Israel. Animated debates on every topic under the sun fill the airwaves every day. One station, Kol BaRama, a station with a large Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) listenership, has the practice of not allowing women to speak on air. They say this is to respect the feelings of [...]

By Barbara Kavadias The past year has seen an increase in tension – and even violence – at the Kotel or Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites. Last Friday, progressive Jews worldwide were disturbed to learn of protests and near-rioting as the Women of the Wall came to pray for Rosh Chodesh at the [...]

By Rabbi Jackie Mates-Muchin Praying with the Women of the Wall is a very unique experience. On Rosh Chodesh Adar, I joined 200 other people packed into the very back part of the women’s section with a dozen men standing on chairs on the men’s side in order to participate in the service. Most of [...]

There is an old Chinese saying: women hold up half the sky. It would seem that, in this world view, women and their contributions to life are of equal importance to those of men. This does not really speak to the nature of those contributions, if they are the same or different efforts, but that [...]

On Tuesday night, Anat Hoffman, leader of Women of the Wall and Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center, was arrested for praying at the Western Wall. Anat was reciting the Shema with members of the women’s Zionist organization, Hadassah, who are in Israel for their centennial conference. She was detained and held overnight [...]

Can it be that only men were at Sinai? When we read the Asseret HaDibrot this Shavuot, do they apply only to men? Is there some proof that the brain power or the moral worth of a woman is less than a man? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding no.

By Rabbi Stacey Blank A couple of days ago, I boarded the #56 bus in Ramat Shlomo – the first neighborhood in Jerusalem (really more like a close suburb) that was planned solely for Ultra-Orthodox residents – as part of the “Freedom Riders” initiative of the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.  We were riding [...]

The News behind the News:  How did Rabbi Alona Lisitsa, a Reform Female Rabbi, become seated on the Religious Council of Mevasseret outside of Jerusalem? Hopefully you will have all learned by now that Rabbi Lisitsa has been named and seated on the Religious Council of Mevasseret, a suburb of Jerusalem.  By all reports, she [...]

By Resa Davids Our final stop on the alphabet was IRAC, the Israel Religious Action Center.  Under the direction of Anat Hoffman, more than 20 lawyers are actively involved in responding to a multitude of human rights issues that affect each and every one of the diverse communities that make up the population of Israel [...]

By Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman Before we are overwhelmed by Passover preparations, I wanted to share a description of a unique Purim celebration here in Jerusalem. We have been struggling with increasing attempts of the Ultra-Orthodox to ban women from the public sphere (ha-adarat nashim in Hebrew).  Women members of Kol HaNeshama helped organize a women’s [...]