Allison Kaplan Sommer, Fit to be Tied

This is Nechama commenting.

This is the moment when it becomes obvious how much of a threat some people consider the W4W to be. That Allison Kaplan Sommer must stoop to such unprofessional character assassination, complete with shoddy research from “a source close to the Haredi community” and a half-quote from a long, thoughtful (they skipped the part where Ronit says she herself has similar flaws as the WOW, but in a different area), and ultimately deleted blog post in which she addresses the classic Mussar (self-reflective) concept that any ideal other than Torah — be that money, or any -ism — is ultimately “strange worship,” Avodah Zarah… it tells you how desperate they are.

Allison, we understand that women like yourself, stuck in a narrative of your own creation, don’t believe that the Gedolim could possibly listen to an idea suggested by a woman. You’ve never heard of Sara Schnierer, of course. You can go right on believing that it was simply coincidence that Women For the Wall started up less than a month before 12,000 women came to the Wall.

And… oh my gosh, what a terrible crime… Ronit publishes a business blog on which she (*gasp*) doesn’t say that she’s Jewish! Never mind the millions of American Jews for whom Judaism truly is an afterthought… here you have a woman whose Judaism drives her entire life, but prefers to write a parenting blog for a broad American audience, free of evangelicals pestering her and discussions of Israeli politics. Half of Israeli businesses selling in America keep their national origin under wraps for all of the same reasons, but I suppose it’s because Ronit is charedi that this is a crime.

Allison… Ronit is all in favor of women being public, vocal, and determined — you just don’t like the cause she supports. So you pretend that you won’t ridicule her, even as you attempt to do so, and fail.

And before you accuse us of “name-calling” or intolerance, I suggest you check the mirror. We’ve all read what the leaders of WOW say. The myth that they “just want to pray” masks an agenda of hoping to pull charedi women out of a lifestyle they — and you — despise. You can’t get much less tolerant than that!