Why new Israeli women's group opposes feminist activists at the Western Wall

Christa Case Bryant 3 hours agoSocietyReligionIsrael

Feminist activists seeking freedom of worship at Judaism’s holiest site were once again shut out of the women’s prayer section at the Western Wall today by women who oppose their efforts.

The activists, known as Women of the Wall (WOW), have been seeking for 25 years to challenge the Orthodox customs that govern the Western Wall and limit how and where women can pray. In recent months, as their campaign has gained momentum, it has also garnered serious push back – mostly from other women.

RELATED: In Israel, Women of the Wall hit raw nerve over religious clout in state life

WOW activists have described their female opponents as trapped in a male-dominated paradigm, in which they are simply doing the bidding of their "rabbi-handlers." But actually the counter-protest is not driven by men, but by a group called Women for the Wall. The group says it is tapping into Orthodox frustration with WOW's attempts to subvert longstanding Jewish tradition in the name of women's rights and religious freedom.

“I just got so fed up,” says cofounder Ronit Peskin, who decided to take action after WOW declined a compromise proposed by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky that would have allowed them to pray at a separate, less conspicuous area of the Wall, albeit with some limitations.

So in April, she and Leah Aharoni established Women for the Wall, and began making calls to rabbis and politicians mobilize a show of support for Orthodox tradition. They then helped orchestrate flood tides of schoolgirls and other women opposed to WOW, who came pouring into the women’s prayer section so that there was no room for the activist group.

Even at today's monthly service, the women’s section was overflowing despite calls by some rabbinical leaders for ultra-Orthodox women to stay away given the sensitive timing – today was the final day of Ramadan and Jerusalem's main Muslim holy sites are located just above the Western Wall.

About 200-250 supporters of WOW, including some men, were relegated to a fenced-off section at the back of the Western Wall plaza, where police protected them as they prayed and sang. A small crowd of ultra-Orthodox men, with swinging side curls and jeering faces, blew shrill whistles in an attempt to drown them out.

Ms. Peskin and Ms. Aharoni, though they oppose WOW, vociferously disagree with such provocation from ultra-Orthodox.

"These foolish boys are the unwitting allies of Women Of the Wall, and their best PR tool," said Aharoni in a press release. "Screaming and violence do not belong at the holy site. The Kotel [Western Wall] is not the place for a media circus or standoffs between Jews."

Yet Peskin, Aharoni, and the thousands of other women who have come to the Western Wall are sometimes lumped in with such provocateurs. One WOW activist, Phyllis Chesler, called her group's female opponents a “psychological lynch mob.”

“People are associating us with [the male protestors] when we probably oppose them even more than [WOW] do,” says Peskin in a phone interview.

She, like Aharoni, is an American immigrant to Israel and admits that without fluent Hebrew it has been hard to get the word out to the public about Women for the Wall. Even teenage girls whose rabbis call on them to come may not be aware of the group, let alone its non-combative approach.

Peskin says she sees WOW as fellow Jewish sisters who deserve her love and respect. But she disagrees with the characterization of their campaign as a fight for religious freedom and a liberation of women from religious coercion.

"[I]n reality, they wish to coerce changes upon those who prefer to pray in full accordance with thousands of years of Jewish tradition," she wrote in an op-ed for the Jerusalem Post today.

“Personally as an American I totally support freedom of religion,” says Peskin, who moved to Israel seven years ago. “But I don’t really see much support for freedom of religion coming from [WOW].”

Related stories

• How much do you know about Israel? Take the quiz
• In Israel, Women of the Wall hit raw nerve over religious clout in state life (+video)
• Olive Press Ultra-Orthodox insider invites outsiders in through the big screen

Read this story at csmonitor.com

In Australia, kangaroo keeps missing 7-year-old boy safe

Mystery ‘Angel’ Priest Appears to Help Trapped Teen Following Horrible Car Crash — Then Disappears

Billy Hallowell 4 hours agoSociety & Culture

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

English -- SaLuSa 06:08:2013

SaLuSa 06.08.2013

Your vibration level is rising exponentially each day and those of you who are preparing themselves for even higher vibrations are feeling the change within already. Your ability to absorb the incoming Light inside has increased immensely and it is to be seen shortly also on the outside. Another wave of clearing has passed by for you and for Mother Earth and you can literally sense it in the air. The Light from your Sun is brighter because you are now able to receive higher frequencies than ever before. Look around you and see it for yourself and feel the fresh energy that is everywhere. The old energy of suffering and sorrow is being replaced with the new one full of Love and compassion for everyone without any difference. The more you clear yourself the more you will feel this freshness and Love around, so do not hesitate for a moment and finish what you have started long ago and was very hard and painful, but now even the most heavy issues can be cleared with ease as the frequency has risen “countless” times and of course you have become very well aware of this process by already knowing when something needs your attention. Some might decide to ignore and it is absolutely your own choice at what speed you do it, but we want to remind you that it has never been easier for you to fully step into the Light, as it is now.

These are the moments of your true awakening and we are very happy to be with you, therefore put all your doubts aside and simply feel our energy flowing to you. We know that you want to see us finally land, yet the more you will focus on our energy, the more you will attract these matters as disclosure and landings to you. Every of our messages is about truly feeling and connecting to us without any worries of when and how. Let this be our part of our together plan and when the right moment comes, believe us we will not “waste” any minute and will arrive on such a beautiful occasion that is still beyond your imagination and many of you, that are aligned with our energy, already feel that we are coming.

Always listen to your inner guidance as it cannot lie to you and feel the attraction of your higher experiences, that are about to enter into your reality. Preparation for them is very important, that is why we feel we need to remind you often of your own readiness and changes that are necessary prior to your stepping in. We also want to remind you that after you will see all the beauty of it with your own eyes and get these wonderful feelings into your body, you will clearly understand why you needed to be prepared for this exact period of time. Keep in mind, that when you step into your new reality, you will have plenty of time for your own pleasures and you will not have to worry that you will miss something important, as you cannot be late, so focus on your visions of what your life will look like and soon you will realize that you have left the time illusion and your life has changed.

I am SaLuSa from Sirius and we are here to help you achieve your goals, that you have set for yourselves and most of you are now aware of. Feel our energy and put away the old unfilled imaginings that you once had, as they are only holding you back and listen to us, as we are telling you that we are coming in the most beautiful way. Be aligned within the Now, be aligned with us and truly feel this wonderful energy that this alignment is creating. We love you all.

John Smallman

Saul: What You Focus Your Attention on Intensifies, as channeled by John Smallman, August 7, 2013 at: http://johnsmallman.wordpress.com

John’s reading of today’s message can be found here:
http://johnsmallman.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/2013-08-07-saul-audio-blog-for-wednesday-august-7th.mp3

Here in the spiritual realms we are all cheering very loudly as humanity moves ever closer to the grand event for which you have been hoping and praying for eons, and towards which you have been progressing so forcefully for the last few decades. If you could see a graph of that progress you would see eons of time during which an almost flat horizontal line follows the timeline across the graph until late in the 18th century, at which point it takes a gently upwards slope until the 1990s, and from there till the present, a sharply increasing upswing then becomes impossible to ignore.

Now, it has become, to all intents and purposes, a vertically upwards sweep with virtually no horizontal movement in time. Focus your attention on the reality of that incredible acceleration towards your awakening, and know that that is what is now occurring.

Yes, it really is that close! Let your Light burn brightly and constantly. You do that by making a point of calling to mind hourly – half hourly, quarter hourly, or even every 5 minutes if you can – the fact that you are Love, that you intend to channel and share Love, and that humanity is bathed in Love from the divine field of Love that envelops you always. And remind yourselves that what you focus your attention on intensifies, and then focus on what you want: your heart’s true desire, your desire to awaken!

If you are tempted to say to yourselves: “I’ve heard all this over and over; why does Saul keep repeating it?” Then I say to you it is because you do keep forgetting. When you wake up in the morning you make the intent to remember throughout the day, but then the chores and distractions of daily life in the illusion seem to hold your attention like an exciting or thrilling movie, and before you know it – time does seem to have been speeded up, does it not? – it is bedtime.

Enormous assistance from the spiritual realms, way more than has been available in previous ages, is now on hand for the asking, so ask, and ask, and ask! Let go of your doubts as best you can. We know it is difficult for you when the daily activities that the embodied have to undertake seem so demanding and at odds with the spiritual Reality to which you are in the process of returning, but we are here, holding your hands and reassuring you. You are never alone, you can never be alone, because you are one with each other, with us, and with God – you are just having difficulty accessing awareness of it.

Having chosen to incarnate as humans at this point in your spiritual education because you wanted to be active participants in this monumental evolutionary leap forwards and upwards, then make a point of focusing your attention on that choice, and on the satisfaction you felt when you learnt that God had honored that choice. You are here as Light-bearers and wayshowers, as you very well know, and remembering that you made that choice with great enthusiasm makes your ongoing efforts to bring this task to completion that much more effective.

Truly you are very effectively bringing this task towards a most perfect conclusion, and the respect that you have garnered in the spiritual realms is quite staggering. Your moment of glory is at hand. And you have most certainly earned it, although the children of God have no need to earn anything as all has already been given to you in perpetuity.

To rephrase what I have just told you, you are doing a superb job! Do not let doubt or anxiety cloud your vision; just keep going forwards with the divine flow and avoid any temptation to turn back against it. You may well feel in need of a respite, but that is mainly your ego expressing its fear because it does not and cannot understand your divine motivation. Press on powerfully as you most definitely can, in the sure knowledge that what awaits you is, in human terms, utterly beyond belief.

With so very much love, Saul.