Carrying the Torah with Pride

Today, I was greeted with this news about the arrest of Anat Hoffman, one of the leaders of Women of the Wall and the Reform movement in Israel.

From the Facebook page of Women of the Wall, this press release:

ANAT HOFFMAN TAKEN INTO POLICE CUSTODY FOR CARRYING TORAH
Chairperson forcefully removed by police for carrying Torah

Jerusalem, Israel – One of the leaders of the Reform movement in Israel and Women of the Wall (WOW) was arrested for holding a sefer Torah during a Rosh Chodesh celebration at the Western Wall.

Women of the Wall (WOW) gathered this morning for their monthly Rosh Chodesh services at 7 a.m. on the women's side of the Kotel. Anat Hoffman, with a sefer Torah in her arms, led the 150 women strong prayer group in song as it continued its celebration in a procession toward Robinson's Arch.

Moments after leaving the Wall, police confronted and blocked the procession and began menacingly to attempt to remove the Torah from Hoffman's arms. Hundreds of participants watched in shock and distress as the Torah was jostled by police.

Hoffman was detained under the pretext that she was not praying according to the traditional customs of the Kotel. Hoffman was taken into police custody and interrogated for five hours. Police claim that holding the sefer Torah is against the Supreme Court ruling. Police are currently consulting with Attorney General to determine her charges.

Anat and her lawyer stated that the act of carrying a Torah is not mentioned in the Supreme Court ruling. Women of the Wall stood in solidarity with Anat outside of the Kishle Police Station near Jaffa Gate. Hoffman was released from police custody and banned from the Kotel for 30 days.

The arrest of a woman on the first day of the month of Av is a harsh reminder of the price that Israeli society may pay for its religious intolerance and fanaticism. Tomorrow at 13:30, WOW will lobby at the Knesset for civil equality and pluralism at the Kotel, emphasizing the Wall as a holy site for all streams of Judaism and advocating for equal rights of women at the Wall. 

This morning at OSRUI, Torah was read all over camp. Our readers were women and men. The Torah was carried by rabbis and teachers, counselors and staff - male and female. The Torah for which Anat was arrested is the Torah from which we teach and learn each and every day. The country that allowed for the arrest of a woman carrying the Torah is the country for which we pray for peace and safety each and every day.

I'm torn, truthfully. I consider myself an ohevet Tzion, a lover of Zion. But I am intensely and incredibly hurt by this action taken by the police in Jerusalem. (I do, however, smile a little at the 30-day ban from the Kotel proscribed for Anat - which ends just in time for Rosh Chodesh Elul. Reminds me of the wise judge in the story of the sukkah who gave the owner 7 days to take it down...)

For now, I will continue to wait and see what happens in the land I love. I will fill my days and world with Torah and I will teach anyone who will listen about my own beliefs about equality and plurality and fairness and right.

And I will continue to carry the Torah with great pride.

Support Women of the Wall: on Facebook, or at their Website.

Chanukah Countdown, Food, & Giveaway!

Welcome to my Chanukah Coutndown Party!
I'm so excited to be celebrating 2 weeks of Chanukah posts, giveaways, and just general fun. Make sure to check back here every day because I have something great to give away all week and all throughout Chanukah!

I am sure that you knew the traditional food of Chanukah is latkes and/or sufganiyot. Latkes are potato pancakes, fried in oil. Sufganiyot are jelly-filled donuts, also fried in oil. The oil is the key, of course, because of the mythology of the oil and its important role in the story of the holiday.

But did you know that it's also customary to eat dairy foods on Chanukah too? You might be thinking, um, Ima, isn't that Shavuot? Yes, we eat dairy on that holiday too, but for different reasons. This is a really rockin' girl-power reason:

The Story of Judith.

Unfortunately, it's not that cut-and-dried - we don't know what really happened, we have two different versions of the story and it's all apocryphal.

During a siege of the city of Bethulia (which we know nothing about), the supposedly beautiful widow Judith is determined to save her people by assassinating the Assyrians' general, Holofernes. She left the city with the intent to seduce the general. Holofernes invited her into his tent for a nice meal, intending to seduce her. Judith waited until he fell into a drunken sleep, grabbed his sword, and cut off his head, bringing it in a sack back to her town, which turned the tide of the battle. Hooray!

The other version of the story goes like this: Every virgin bride (in the other she was a widow, note) prior to marriage was obliged to sleep with the Assyrian governor (ew). Judith, when it was her turn, fed the governor cheese which made him sleepy and when he went to sleep, she chopped off his head and saved all her fellow ladies.

Because of Judith's heroism, in whatever way it occurred, it's customary to eat dairy foods on Chanukah. Another good vegetarian holiday, if you ask me!

Today's giveaway...full of food!

Oh Nuts Giveaway - $30 gift certificate to anything on their site!


Oh Nuts is a great company that participated in my Chanukah Countdown last year, and from which my mom ordered a bunch of gifts because if it... (Hi mom!)

They have these really nice Chanukah baskets, and some other stuff too, including these jelly bean dreidels which I think are adorable. (And if you're here and Chanukah isn't your holiday, there are other things for other holidays too as well as coffee, other gifts, and even healthy stuff.) See here what Miriam got from Oh Nuts. You could buy these cute cookies too!

To enter, leave a comment on this post!

Earn an extra entry by tweeting about it. Let me know below in the comments.

Comments will close at 8am Monday, December 15th. 

Come back all week and next for some great Chanukah posts and giveaways!

Join in the Chanukah Countdown Party - feel free to grab my badge above and link back here with your own Chanukah posts! How do you celebrate, what's your favorite observance, favorite tips and tricks, etc...  
Comments closed. The winner is...@kvetchingeditor Chaviva!
Watch your email.... 

Daughters Unite!

in this week's Torah portion...

A man without sons
like our man Zelophechad
has a big problem.

Without any sons
who will inherit the land?
Daughters want to know!

Mahlah and Noa,
Hoglah, Milcha, and Tirtza
came before Moses.

"Our dad had no sons,
but we want to inherit!"
So Mo considered.

Moses took their case
and brought their pleas before God.
God made a judgment:

A man without sons
can pass on land to his girls -
the family plot!

A great victory
for feminists everywhere.
Equal rights - begin!

Read more about this week's Torah portion here.

See more Haiku Friday here.

Shabbat Shalom!

P.S. Today is Yom RJ.org (yom = day) so make sure to check out the Reform Blog today.