Anat Parks

On October 16th, Anat Hoffman, head of the Israeli Religious Action Center, was arrested at the Kotel for doing what many Jewish Americans take for granted: wearing a tallit, reading from the Torah, and praying aloud. As a Reform American Jew, this overt infringement on women’s rights is hard to fathom but for women in Israel, these testamants to Judaism are illegal at the Kotel.

In response to Anat’s arrest, Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall, said:

“The prayer of thousands of people who came to the Western Wall from afar was disturbed by illegal demonstrations, provocation, and arrests that were meant as a show for the media…The organization of the Women of the Wall and the entire Reform movement are the only Jewish stream who received from the State of Israel its own private area for prayers at the Western Wall, at an investment of 2 million dollars of taxpayers’ money. All the other tens of streams and sub-streams in the Jewish nation crowd together in the Western Wall Plaza in peace and brotherhood, with mutual respect, and not one of them complains ‘this place is too small.’”

But I think Rabbi Rabinowitz is missing the point. Let us take another example of civil disobedience from our own history: Miss Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks did not remain in her seat simply because there were no seats left on the bus. She stayed in her seat because when the driver stepped toward her, “waved his hand and ordered [her] up and out of [her] seat, [she] felt a determination cover [her] body like a quilt on a winter night.” This was not just about peeling her exhausted body from her seat so a white person could sit; this was about an ideological struggle - a struggle for equality, a struggle for justice, a struggle against sinat hinam, baseless hatred.

Every day, Anat fights for these same goals - goals so deeply rooted in everything we stand for, in everything the Religious Action Center stands for, and everything the Union for Reform Judaism stands for: inclusion, equality, justice.

But to truly be a person of religion, one must understand its fundamental purpose. Rabbi Rabinowitz continues to miss this point when he publicly ostracizes the Reform Movement for not meeting his religious standards or when he requested the Pope remove his crucifix during his visit to the wall. Religion is not about inter or intra religious superiority. It is not a medium to degrade, marginalize, or discredit others. We cannot allow our religions to deteriorate into vehicles of division and fragmentation. We must use them to make us better people, to strive towards greatness, to treat others with respect and dignity, to humble ourselves, and ultimately, to unite us.

Unfortunately, it is easy to find sentiments of separation, inequality & hatred within Judaism. When we encounter language like this, It is our duty to direct it down paths of tolerance - through civil disobedience or otherwise. The Bible commands us not to stand idly by the blood of our neighbor - not to stand by as our neighbor’s life is in danger. (Leviticus 19:16) Every day we allow divisive words and policies to reflect Jewish values is a day we break this commandment.

As Reform Jews, we are taught that standing up for our beliefs and fighting for social progression are inherent to our movement. When we support Anat Hoffman & the Women of the Wall, when we support the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, & when we support equality and tolerance in our world, we are following in that beautiful tradition.