Dear Chevreh,
I want to let you know that in a few days, a Unity Mission of rabbis from Northern California, coordinated by the SF Counsuil Genera's Office and the Israeli Foreign Ministry, will be traveling to Jerusalem to present our views to prominent Israeli leaders, including Israeli Supreme Court Justices. During their meetings, they will present letters from organizations and individuals in support of Women of the Wall.
Rabbi Pam Frydman, International Co-Chair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall, is asking you to lend your support by signing onto the letter below that she has drafted with colleagues across the denominational spectrum. Please cut and paste the letter below, add your signature, and send it ASAP to Rabbi Frydman at rebpam@gmail.com.
Please also send this email forward to your friends and communities.
The delegation leaves in just a few days, so please respond with your email to Rabbi Frydman ASAP!
Kol tuv,
Menachem
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom || Bay Area Masorti || ShefaNetwork.org
Dear Leaders of Israel:
We are writing to support Women of the Wall, and the right of women to raise their voices in prayer at the Kotel.
We are part of Klal Yisrael (the community of the Jewish people) and we wish to express our support and love for the State of Israel. We are, at the same time, deeply disturbed by the fact that women in Israel have been silenced and not permitted to pray aloud at the Kotel, while men may use their voices as they wish. Respectfully, we must state that it is a booshah (an embarrassment) that such a situation exists at the holiest site for our people, and we believe the situation is a violation of our mission as an "or lagoyim." We respectfully submit that the State of Israel should be leading the way in honoring women's rights, and instead, is doing the opposite.
We respectfully demand equal rights for Women of the Wall and all Jewish women who wish to pray at the Kotel. We request as well that the administration of the Kotel and the plans for refurbishing the Kotel and its environs be considered hand in hand with the needs and sensibilities of all Jews everywhere, keeping in mind that eighty-five percent of world wide Jewry pray with kol isha raised among them, and sometimes in leadership. Yes, there must be a place at the Kotel for those men and women who wish to pray in such a way as to not hear kol isha, but there must also be a place where kol isha can be raised in prayer.
It is Jerusalem and the Kotel to which we turn in prayer all over the world and in Eretz Yisrael. Please take every step possible to provide for the religious rights and sensibilities of all Jews at our holiest site.
Thank you.
L'Shalom,
(add your signature here, together with your city and state—or your city and country)
