“The last thing that WOW desires is for quiet, undisturbed prayer without media attention,” said Leah Aharoni, cofounder of W4W. “On the contrary, their agenda is the disturbance of the prayer of others, and it is high time that the rights of the true victims be respected.”

The W4W website meticulously documents statements from WOW leaders reflecting their desire to disturb prayer and spark confrontation — what WOW’s own founders described as an agenda to “shock” and “change” traditional women. Leaders and members declare that they seek attention from the media and public. One of WOW’s own members describes how her colleagues “sing at the top of their lungs in an operatic voice.” Last Elul, WOW members blew over 10 shofaros in unison, disturbing prayers held at synagogues elsewhere in Jerusalem’s Old City.

“WOW first creates a confrontation, and then portrays itself as the victim. When we were able to bring 15,000 women to the Wall to stand in silent prayer and to ask that this opportunity be preserved, WOW responded by trying to tar our efforts due to the misbehavior of twenty-five or so uninvited, rowdy (male) students,” explained Jenni Menashe, also a W4W cofounder. “WOW consistently refuses to dialogue or consider the rights of the thousands of women who come to pray at the Western Wall in traditional fashion each day.”

“This level of hypocrisy would be mind-boggling,” added Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Director of the CJV, “were it not sadly typical. [WOW Director] Anat Hoffman’s career is about opposing religious growth, not advocating for women, yet she and the American Reform movement deliberately misportray her intent and credentials.”

“What sort of advocacy for women’s rights involves trampling upon the rights of 10,000 women for the sake of fifty? If WOW desired undisturbed prayer, they would pray at the plaza created for ‘alternative services,’ a platform deemed acceptable by the American liberal movements,” added Menashe. “It is clear that they have an alternate agenda, and are simply playing the victim for crass political purposes.”

“WOW is imposing their own form of worship on Judaism’s holiest site, in violation of the sanctity of the place and existing practice, deliberately fomenting discord and acrimony,” concluded Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the CJV. “Such brazen actions would be unthinkable at the holiest sites of other religions. WOW should demonstrate the same respect for Jewish traditional practices that decent people everywhere show for those of all religions.”

WOMEN OF THE WALL — DENYING OTHERS THE RIGHT TO PRAY
Jerusalem Residents Condemn Group for “Offensive” and “Disturbing” Conduct at Western Wall

Women For the Wall, the grassroots organization opposing the disturbance of prayers in the traditional Western Wall plaza, today released a collection of video clips featuring unscripted reactions by Jerusalem residents to the conduct of Women Of the Wall. Those interviewed were unanimous in their condemnation of what they characterized as inappropriate and disruptive conduct.

“Women Of the Wall tell the media that they simply wish to pray in their own fashion, and that they are advocating for the rights of women,” said Leah Zakh Aharoni, co-founder and chairperson of Women For the Wall. “But what we found was universal censure of their behavior as loud, unreasonable and ultimately boorish – especially from those women who are forced to stand near them if they wish to pray at the Wall.”

On the video, both women and men criticize the conduct of “Women Of the Wall” as disrespectful of the Sanctity of the Wall, hindering the prayers of others, and personally offensive. The most frequent criticism was for deliberately singing at high volume and making a disturbance. “They have to be sensitive to the people who like to pray traditionally at the Wall… and I understand there’s another place for them,” said one American woman now living in Israel. “I think they should try to be quieter, or go to their own shul,” said another. An American yeshiva student was visibly upset that Women of the Wall disrupted his prayers on the Yahrtzeit of his mother. “For my mother, who’s a lady!” he emphasized.

Many went further, questioning advocacy for change in that specific location. “It is extremely disturbing to me, and I would rather they have a place of their own, to do their own thing and not mingle with the people who feel uncomfortable around them,” commented one woman. A young Israeli woman was more direct: “This is not the place. You want to do this? Why at a place like this? What’s the point?” An Arab resident concurred: “This is a Holy Place to Muslims and Jews, and it’s unnecessary to detract from the sanctity of a Holy Place like this.”

Women of the Wall “makes a joke of it all” concluded an American immigrant to Israel.

“Standing on the steps down to the Wall and conducting random interviews, we couldn’t find even a single individual to defend the conduct of Women Of the Wall,” said Aharoni. “In America people may think they represent women, but every woman we talked to found their behavior disruptive and deliberately offensive.”

An elderly Israeli woman expressed her sentiments with obvious pain: “it’s too bad that such a Holy Place, shared and valued by all the Jewish People, should be turned into a point of contention by a few women who think they have to prove a point by creating a provocation.”

The video is available on the YouTube channel of W4W.

Women For the Wall is a grassroots organization of women who wish to preserve a place for undisturbed traditional prayer at the holiest site in Jewish tradition. Women For the Wall seeks to ensure that all Jews may come and pray with respect and dignity at the place reserved for classical Jewish practice.

JERUSALEM, Israel – Women For the Wall, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving tradition at the Western Wall in the spirit of Jewish unity, responded forcefully today to Women of the Wall’s intent to escalate the controversy at the Kotel by bringing in a Sefer Torah to Friday’s Rosh Chodesh service.

“I find the use of a Sefer Torah as a PR prop extremely painful,” said Leah Aharoni, co-founder of the Women For the Wall. “The Sages have taught us not to use the Torah as a spade with which to dig, yet this is exactly what is happening here – an insensitive group co-opting religion to promote a political agenda.”

Without media attention, WoW’s numbers have dwindled to barely two dozen attendees. “Women of the Wall claimed to want to pray quietly, but now that peace has been restored, they are trying to reignite controversy,” said Aharoni. “They can read the Torah at the Ezrat Israel section, just a few yards down the same exact Wall, but they are bent on imposing their anti-traditional worldview upon other women.”

“WoW have pulled the wool over the eyes of Diaspora Jewry once again,” added Jenni Menashe, Women For the Wall founding member. “It is not the rights of WOW’s few members that are at issue here, but whether they will trample the rights of thousands of other women to pray in their own space, undisturbed.”

WoW’s “Bus Mitzvah” ad campaign is timed to coincide with Anat Hoffman’s latest fundraising trip to the United States. After being absent from news coverage for close to a year, this has provided WOW with revived visibility. “They found no better way to make news than to ignite a new round of hostilities,” commented Menashe. “The campaign isn’t about Bat Mitzvahs at all, but about their desire to inflict ‘change’ upon the traditional women praying in the space consecrated for traditional prayer – rather than taking their prayers to Ezrat Yisrael, the new space built to meet their needs.”

WoW’s spokeswoman proudly told the media that the “Bus Mitzvah” campaign was meant to be provocative, while the organization’s chair Anat Hoffman said that the ads were pasted “davka” on buses running through religious communities in order to stir a reaction.

Women For the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus around the Kotel and maintaining the sanctity of the place, is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 — The Reform-led Women of the Wall expressed disdain for sacred Jewish objects today, attempting to sneak a Torah scroll past police in a duffel bag. Jewish tradition demands that a Torah scroll be treated with utmost respect, and police were shocked to discover the scroll during a routine check of WOW members as they entered the Kotel Plaza.

“We are extremely disappointed that WOW would misuse a holy Torah Scroll in this way,” commented Ronit Peskin, Director of Women For the Wall. “This is a desecration of something sacred to the entire Jewish nation.”

Leah Aharoni, co-founder of Women For the Wall, explained, “WOW’s Chairperson, Anat Hoffman, has said that even the Wall itself has no special sanctity to her, but is simply a place of opportunity. Today they have taken it a step further, expressing disdain for sacred Jewish objects, the police, and Israeli civil law in one fell swoop.”

Bringing a private Sefer Torah into the Kotel Plaza is against police regulations, in order to prevent theft of the Torah scrolls provided to the public at the site. Another group hoping to bring a family Torah scroll to a Bar Mitzvah was also denied entry this morning; they, however, did not attempt to circumvent regulation or provoke arrest by bringing the Torah in a bag without proper respect.

Observers noted that Women of the Wall may be striving for renewed attention, as Women For the Wall have both shown that the majority of Israeli women stand against WOW, and have halted raucous counter-demonstrations by young men. Today, a single disturbed man blowing bubbles was the worst counter-reaction to the WOW presence.

Women For the Wall called upon WOW to respect those who value Jewish tradition as it has been done since the time of King Solomon. Peskin added, “WOW has refused to immediately avail themselves at the new Ezrat Yisrael plaza commissioned by Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett, or the many Torah scrolls available at that site. Instead it insists upon disturbing traditional practices at the site commissioned for traditional Jewish prayer, and all of us who wish to pray quietly in that fashion. Today besides their loud singing and general disturbance, they tried to provoke arrest while treating a Torah scroll like hand luggage. How can they claim to be fighting for the rights of women, when they trample the rights of so many more women to pray undisturbed?”

Women For the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus around the Kotel and maintaining the sanctity of the place, is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

In recent months, Women For the Wall have led a proactive media and educational campaign to reduce violence and restore dignity at the Western Wall. Women For the Wall leaders have repeatedly intervened at the Kotel to stop impertinent behavior.

“Violence of any sort has no place, period.” Said Leah Aharoni, Women For the Wall co-founder. “It certainly does not reflect the values of the Kotel. The debate over this issue must be conducted in a civil and respectful fashion.”

“We find it outrageous that Women of the Wall has claimed that the recent publication in the media of its leadership’s connections with radical anti-Israel groups is the cause of this terrible graffiti at the Cidor residence,” added Women For the Wall Director Ronit Peskin. “Women of the Wall has attempted to stifle the public debate about this important issue, based upon solid documentary evidence. They have intimidated media outlets and threatened legal action. Instead of refuting the documents or explaining them, they have embarked on a smear campaign. Their attempt to connect the publication of these facts about WoW leaders with this second graffiti attack on Cidor’s home is just another attempt to divert attention from the real issue.”

“We encourage the WOW board of the directors to conduct an investigation into the activity of its leaders,” added Leah Aharoni. “We also call on responsible leaders of the American Jewish community to examine this issue. Women For the Wall is committed to a vibrant public debate on the Kotel, its sanctity and traditions, and condemns any acts of violence on either side.”

Women For the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus around the Kotel and maintaining the sanctity of the place, is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

JERUSALEM, October 28, 2013 – Women For the Wall condemned today the Women of the Wall’s demand that the government prevent traditional women from praying at the Kotel. In its list of sixteen conditions for moving their Rosh Hodesh prayer to a new section, the Women of the Wall requires that, effective immediately, the government stop “ultra-Orthodox leaders who are organizing demonstrations against Women of the Wall.” This is a reference to Women For the Wall, who have brought thousands of women to the Kotel each month to show their desire that the traditions of the Wall not be changed.

“The very idea that a group that can hardly muster 100 women on a good month should dictate to the government how to run the Kotel plaza is mindboggling,” said Ronit Peskin, Director of Women for the Wall. “The list of demands is yet another example of Women of the Wall’s preoccupation with themselves at the expense of the Jewish People.”

Women of the Wall’s demands include an anti-democratic ban on other organized groups, as well as a permanent cap on the size of the area for traditional prayer – along with the “right” to arrange for women to sing in the plaza immediately behind the men’s section without restriction. Additional demands include a contiguous plaza which would inevitably damage the existing archeological site, a state budget equivalent to the one currently available to the administration of the existing plaza, control over the development of the alternative plaza and the existing plaza (outside the separate prayer area), and a government commitment to augmenting the prestige of the new egalitarian plaza.

“While they claim to fight for ‘women’s rights’, the Women of the Wall are trampling the rights of all other women, demanding that they be removed from the Kotel women’s section when WOWshows up,” said Leah Aharoni, co-founder of Women for the Wall. “Women of the Wall claim to give women a voice at the Kotel, yet in reality they are there to squash the voice of hundreds of thousands of women, who oppose their antics and want to preserve existing Jewish tradition.”

Women for the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus around the Kotel and maintaining the sanctity of the place, is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

Women For the Wall Welcome Statement that “our Haredi sisters also have rights”

JERUSALEM, October 14, 2013 – Women For the Wall welcomed statements by Anat Hoffman, Chair Of Women of the Wall, abandoning their previous agenda of fomenting “change” among women who disagree with their feminist agenda. In response, Women For the Wall again called upon WOW to immediately move their services to the new platform constructed at the Kotel, the Western Wall, by Interior Minister Naftali Bennet, instead of planning yet another monthly disturbance of thousands of other women and men at the plaza constructed and intended for traditional prayer.

In remarks during a conference call with WOW supporters, Hoffman contradicted long-standing public positions of WOW, conceding that the group has never desired simply “to wear prayer shawls, pray and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall,” as proclaimed in its mission statement. She further agreed that the reason the rejectionist faction within WOW insists upon staying at the traditional women’s section has little to do with an objection “to praying in the same space with men,” as the group previously stated.

Rather, Hoffman confirmed Women For the Wall’s position that WOW is an activist organization, agitating for “change in the Orthodox world,” and, in Hoffman’s words, the reason to move is because WOW might not be “the right [group] for doing something like this.” She also made the unprecedented admission that “our Haredi sisters also have rights,” namely, the right to pray undisturbed, in the traditional fashion, as observed by our ancestors for over 2000 years.

In response, Women For the Wall renewed its declaration that WOW should move immediately, rather than putting up untenable preconditions, which may prevent a resolution of the situation. “Divisiveness at the Kotel continues to harm the fabric of Jewish Unity,” said Leah Aharoni, cofounder of Women For the Wall. Noting that she herself is not Haredi, she added that “the rights of other women, which extend well beyond the Haredi community, should be respected immediately, as an alternate space has been available for their use and has now been greatly revamped and expanded.”

Last Rosh Chodesh, on Friday, October 4, WOW led a loud disturbance of prayers conducted by 15,000 men and women for the health of the recently departed Chief Rabbi, Rav Ovadia Yosef, rather than using the alternate platform constructed by Bennet — though it could have accommodated a group many times their size. “WOW has made conciliatory statements before, but has never conceded the truth so frankly,” added W4W cofounder Ronit Peskin. “Their actions at the Kotel always belied their words of respect and coexistence, and it is time for that to end.”

Tellingly, the rejectionist faction within WOW is led by many of the same people who were least successful at maintaining the veneer of simply wanting to pray in their own, alternate way. Their media contact is the Israeli founder of WOW, Bonna Devora Haberman, who recently said that Orthodox women “are aroused by the subversive possibility of women’s autonomous public prayer.” WOW co-founders Susan Aranoff and Rivka Haut, who wrote several months ago that WOW must “win the struggle to remain at the Kotel” because WOW would “change [the] world view” of traditional women and represents “a tikkun for centuries of deprivation,” were featured signatories. Dr. Phyllis Chesler, who said earlier this year that traditional women crowding the plaza to declare their support for traditional prayer constituted “a psychological lynch-mob,” comparable to women who “perform female genital mutilation, murder their daughter-in-laws for their dowries, and participate in the honor murder of their daughter or sister,” also signed. And the dozen signatories also include Professor Shulamit Mangus, who in an earlier editorial called traditional Judaism, as observed by the women consistently praying at the Western Wall, not merely “misogyny” but “archaic, alien, and repulsive.”

“Now that Hoffman has admitted the truth of their agenda, WOW must conduct itself accordingly and move to the alternate space,” said Peskin. “We have always strived for mutual respect and accommodation; deliberate provocation at the Wall plaza cannot be defended or tolerated.”

Women for the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus around the Kotel and maintaining the sanctity of the place, is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

Women For the Wall call on Women of the Wall to show leadership through action
“100 Jews cannot dictate policy to World Jewry”

JERUSALEM, October 7, 2013 – Women for the Wall, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the consensus of those praying at the Western Wall Plaza and maintaining the sanctity of the Holy Site, calls on Women of the Wall to show leadership through action by eschewing conflict and moving its prayers to the new Ezrat Yisrael section at the Western Wall immediately.

Women of the Wall announced today that the organization will move to the new section only after “all of their conditions and specifications are met” and not before the construction is completed. Media outlets have reported that their conditions include making Anat Hoffman the chair of the governing body of the new section, and requiring equal space and equal budget with the current plaza, which is used by millions of Jews each year.

“If Women of the Wall want to become the agents of change, they should do so through action, not pronouncements, by moving to the new plaza immediately,” said Leah Aharoni, co-founder of Women For the Wall. “The divisiveness at the Kotel hurts all of us, the entire Jewish People, and the faster it comes to the end the better. We find it beyond comprehension that a small organization that can barely muster up 100 women once a month for a prayer service should presume to dictate terms and conditions for the use of the holiest site of Jewish tradition to millions of Jews around the world.”

On Friday, Women of the Wall chose to interject themselves among 15,000 men and women who came out to pray for the health of the recently departed Rav Ovadiya Yosef, of blessed memory, and to disturb the services with their own chazzanit with a microphone, leading the splinter group in loud singing.

“Women of the Wall have been making statements in support of the Sharansky proposal for the past year, all the while putting up untenable preconditions and continuing a pattern of deliberate provocation and disturbance,” said Ronit Peskin, Women for the Wall founder. “We would be delighted for this unfortunate situation to come to an end, but WOW must prove their is sincere intent behind their diplomatic language.”

Women for the Wall is dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews can be welcome.

They initially called a sit-in, and Anat Hoffman shot a video at the Wall in which she repeatedly referred to their sit-in and political action, not to learning. But when we and even some of their own supporters criticized holding a political activity at the Kotel, they rapidly changed their tune, claiming that they would be learning instead. Yet this was soon exposed as another cynical political maneuver; in reality, they slept in sleeping bags at the Holy Site, in the middle of the plaza. This is the reverence that the so-called “Women of the Wall” have for the sacred remnant of the Holy Temple.

Even during the wee hours of the morning, women continued to stream to the site — not in order to support WOW, but on the contrary, in order to pray. At no time, not even at 4 AM, could Women of the Wall claim to represent the majority. For most of the day they were outnumbered by more than (usually far more than) ten to one.

They are stopping early because there is about to be a massive gathering — not for political purposes, but to pray for the speedy healing of the Sage HaRav Ovadia Yosef, the former Chief Rabbi. We, too, pray for his recovery. This is what the current plaza is for: for sincere prayer, not political action.

For those who sincerely wish to pray in an alternate form, you need not come to the place used by those who revere tradition in order to pray at the Kotel. That is what Minister Bennett’s platform is there to provide — for a group far larger than Women of the Wall has ever mustered up.

To our sisters, we say: if you want to continue to fight, so be it. You said that our silence indicated openness to change, and through our sincere prayer at the Wall, we show this is untrue. And if you wish to continue to pray at the back of the plaza and then moan to the press about your “exile,” so be it. But Minister Bennett has offered you a better way, the way of tolerance and peace. We urge you to re-evaluate whether refusal to dialog and refusal to accept compromise is really the only way.

WOMEN FOR THE WALL CONDEMNS SIT-IN AT WESTERN WALL
“A holy site is not the place for political activity.”

JERUSALEM, August 25 – Women For the Wall, the grassroots organization of women dedicated to preserving the traditional sanctity of the Western Wall, condemned the Reform-led Women Of the Wall for announcing a “sit in” at the holy Western Wall. “Jerusalem is not Selma, and this issue cannot be compared to the fight for civil rights in the US,” said Ronit Peskin, co-founder of Women For the Wall.

This evening, the Women Of the Wall declared a “sit-in” at the Holy Western Wall. Ten to twelve WOW members came to the Wall for the express purpose of engaging in this protest. WOW’s carefully-angled photographs avoided showing that they were outnumbered over 25:1 by women who came to the Western Wall this evening not for any political activity, but in order to pray in the traditional fashion.

“By organizing a sit-in at the Kotel, Women of the Wall demonstrate what Anat Hoffman has been saying for year – that WOW views the kotel as an opportunity, and lacks reverence for the place held sacred by millions of Jews around the world,” noted Leah Aharoni, co-founder of Women For the Wall. “They have failed to galvanize serious support for their radical agenda, intended to change the traditions of prayer that Jews have followed for millennia. This political protest shows that they do not understand what it means to respect the sanctity of the place.”

“The Kotel is a holy site and a symbol of unity for Jews worldwide,” added Peskin, “and it should not be used to promote the political agenda of any specific group. They should take their business to the Knesset where it belongs.”

Women for the Wall called on leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements to reject this breach in the sanctity of the Kotel. Peskin concluded that “The Kotel must transcend politics. We call on the leaders of the liberal Jewish community to condemn the use of the Kotel as a place of political theater.”

Women For the Wall is a grassroots movement of Jewish women, dedicated to ensuring that the Western Wall can be a place for all Jews to come and pray with respect and dignity. It believes that only by preserving classical Jewish practice at the Wall can it be a place where all Jews are truly welcome.