Dear WOW - Women of the Wall and Friends of WOW,
Congratulations to those of you who were able to take a photograph
and have it sent to the Israeli Knesset.
Please, TELL ME YOUR STORY. Along with so many others, I want to listen to your story.
PLEASE, tell me your story.
Consider replying to these questions or simply telling me whatever it is you would like to share:
Consider replying to these questions or simply telling me whatever it is you would like to share:
What's your name (first and/or last)?
Who are you as a Jewish woman?
Where was that photo taken?
Why did you decide to have your picture taken?
What does that photo of you with the Torah mean to you?
If you could dedicate your photo to one person, who would that person be?
If you could write one sentence to the Israeli Cabinet, what might that sentence be?
Thank you, dear friends, each and all of you, for telling me your story.
Who are you as a Jewish woman?
Where was that photo taken?
Why did you decide to have your picture taken?
What does that photo of you with the Torah mean to you?
If you could dedicate your photo to one person, who would that person be?
If you could write one sentence to the Israeli Cabinet, what might that sentence be?
Thank you, dear friends, each and all of you, for telling me your story.
What connects us to each other is our stories which explain and embrace, uplift and amaze, empower and impress both listener and teller alike. The blessing of this blog is the flowing back and forth of sharing. My offer and my invitation is to tell stories to and for each other. Indeed, each of us has many stories. Also, ancient stories are with us being retold and retooled, reworked and renewed.
The special story that we will be opening and savoring, listening to and retelling is our personal story of a wall, a very old wall, a sacred wall, a wall of holiness and a wall of tears, a wall of prayer and a wall of degradation, a wall of restriction and a wall of freedom:
THE WALL, THE WESTERN WALL, THE WAILING WALL, THE TEMPLE WALL, haKOTEL. Physically it is in Jerusalem; spiritually this wall fills the center of the Jewish soul and the heart of a people's hope for shalom, for peace. So many men and women throughout the ages have caressed the stones of The Wall with their longings and projected onto that wall their deepest feelings and highest aspirations.
In recent years, the right for women at The Western Wall to pray and study and wear the ritual items associated with Jewish prayer has been challenged by the State of Israel.
So many Jewish women around the world and their supporters have been stunned and dismayed by these developments.
Yet, now we, the great Household of Israel - the Jewish People - are celebrating Sukkot, the great harvest festival during which we are instructed to be happy. How can we be happy when the hostility of restrictions to The Wall remain?
Many Jewish women are sending photographs of themselves to the Knesset so that the members of the Israeli Parliament will see and be impressed with photos of women standing before the Holy Ark with the Torah scroll in their arms. This Torah, this Pentateuch, these Five Books is the lifeblood of the Jewish people.
TELL ME YOUR STORY. Please.
To each and all of you who are in a photograph that is sent to the Israeli Knesset, I say thank you for . . . now you are part of the story of THE WALL.
Let our stories imbue our Sukkot dwellings with joy, the joy of friendship and the joy of hope, the joy of our confidence in a shared future of freedom and access to our Torah and our holiest site, The Wall.
Thank you to each of you who accepts my sincere invitation to TELL ME YOUR STORY.
Happy Holiday!
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