I was glad to see in an Associated Press report that Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinovich, has agreed to expand the Western Wall plaza to create a permanent area for mixed-gender and women-led prayer. I have always believed that the kotel is a holy site for people of every Jewish denomination, and no worshiper should be forced into observing another denomination’s way of praying at the western wall.
While the creation of a third section for mixed and women-led services is a victory for non-orthodox Jewish worshipers, it is also a victory for all women. The issue of resistance to women praying publicly among men was the impetus for this change. While I daven at a shul with a mechitza and do not have the desire to wear a tallis or kippa, I do support the right of other Jewish women who wish to daven differently than I do.
Furthermore, the issue of women davening at the kotel in the same comfort as men is an issue for all Jewish women, non-orthodox or orthodox. To see a fantastic expose on how women are slowly being squeezed out of the western wall, please see a post on Hannah Katzman’s blog entitled, Separate and Unequal at the Western Wall.
