Hamas War

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel, Is WOW Sincere?


Like many Jews in Israel, who either live in Jerusalem or not all that far, I get to the Kotel, the Western Wall on occasion. It's usually very quiet and peaceful. You can find people praying quietly there 24/7, yes, every single day of the week and all hours of the day. There are Jewish prayer books on both sides, women and men. On the men's side there are Torah Scrolls taken out for the days and times they will be needed.

Some of the men pray as a group, and others say prayers and study the Torah quietly. The women's side is always quiet.

You see Israelis and tourists of all races and religions quietly and respectfully approaching to pray and photograph the holy site. I'm always impressed at how carefully the tourists try to obey the rules, just like they do with visiting churches and mosques.


Jews and non-Jews don the hats and scarves offered to them by the volunteers. I've donated some of my unneeded scarves a few times and enjoy seeing them worn by women who came to pray and want to be respectful.


This nice atmosphere is disturbed once a month, on Rosh Chodesh-the first of the Jewish Month, when the group called "WOW Women of the Kotel" noisily barge in with a large contingent of photographers. They come equipped with Torah Scrolls, many put on Tefillin and Tallit, even though mainstream Judaism considers it unnecessary for women. They make a lot of noise, which attracts protest and attacks from "the regulars." Their media people take lots of pictures of the disturbances. The women insist that the Kotel is theirs, too and that they have the right to pray there however they want. In a sense maybe they do have rights. When people come to pray quietly with their own prayer book, nobody checks if it's a standard "Orthodox" one.

This group only comes to the Kotel an hour or two a month, one day a month. 

There's a principle in law, Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Those who are at the Kotel 24/7 are the "owners." What we'll call "Orthodox Jews" pray more than once a month. They pray not only daily but three times a day. And many also study the holy texts most of their waking hours, or as much as they can fit into their days.

Those who pray daily, even more than once a day, don't do it as photo-ops, media events and protests.

I know that some of the women in WOW sincerely want to pray their way at the Kotel, but by barging in every month like this they will just keep on causing controversy. You have to start small and quietly. No press, of course. Show some true sincerity, and pray on other days.

9 comments:

Mr. Cohen said...

The group called "WOW Women of the Kotel"
is part of Reform Judaism.

For information about Reform Judaism:

How a Reform Rabbi Became Orthodox (true story):

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-did-reform-rabbi-become-orthodox-jew.html
____________________________________

Reform Judaism vs. Real Judaism:

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/05/guest-post-real-judaism.html

____________________________________

Sephardic Jews REJECT Reform Judaism:

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/07/sephardim-reject-reform.html

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/08/guest-post-persian-rabbis-decree.html

____________________________________

How Reform Jews CHEATED on the Pew survey:

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/06/reform-jews-cheated-pew-survey.html

Anonymous said...

If anyone by now doesn't realize that these women are not only wicked, disrespectful but totally 'OFF' the Wall! As you write above, people are respectful whenever they visit any public place of worship, holy sites, where the people adhere to the requests of those managing the Sites. Here, we have this lunatic fringe purposely trying to disrupt which already shows they have no G-D and do not believe in G-D; otherwise, they would not dare disrespect! They are working for the Reform movement which is part of the world's agenda of undoing religion - especially Torah Judaism in the Land of the Jews.

Batya said...

Yes, if they were coming for sincere prayer, they'd be quiet and respectful.

Devo Kessin said...

Going to disagree here a bit.

When the men daven as a minyan, and when there's leining, they are not quiet.

If everyone just IGNORED Women of the Wall, believe me, it would be a hell of a lot quieter, and a significantly less photo op and circus.

I'm not saying they're right in what they are doing. Nor am I saying they're particularly wrong. What I'm saying is stop feeding the trolls, and the noise will die down.

Batya said...

The men don't show with media circus. Of course they should be ignored and not attacked.
I think the best way for them to use the area which had been set aside would be for men to set up a Beis Medrash there. Then the WOW will come to take it over.

Leah S said...

ignoring them doesn't help. when they are ignored, they sing louder to elicit a photo-op response. I have seen one of the leaders of wotw go right up the the mechitza, when they weren't getting a photo-op response to their singing, and she started singing very loudly until she elicited a violent response from some of the young chareidi guys - and bingo, a photo-op showing how the "poor, innocent wotw" were attacked by those "evil religious men".

the point is that if they want to have their services with women wearing tallis and tefillin, reading the Torah, and singing loudly - they are welcome to do that in their own shuls. but the kotel has a certain decorum that they are violating. it is like starting to talk loudly in a library. there are certain rules of decorum so that everyone can get along.

Batya said...

Leah, good point. Thanks

Shiloh said...

What is all the fuss about anyway, its a retaining wall built in dedication to Herod! If you want the real location of the Temples, see first of all the Tanach, Josephus who was an eyewitness and the RaDaQ who stated quite clear that during his time there was not gentile shrine built on the site of the Temples. Even in the 4th century the rabbi's were unsure of the location. There so happens in the City of David, just outside the Dung gate, down the hill, the still running source of water that was needed for the insane amount of offerings of which false site called the Temple Mount does not have and NO a cistern system cannot provide sufficient amounts of water but nice try. The actual land where the Temples stood has remained undefiled for 2000 years now and its under Jewish control. Israeli archeologists are quietly discussing this fact but because of our tradition written in stone whether it is true or not is preventing the Third Temple from being constructed without a drop of bloodshed. If one is unsure, please research where the location of Fortress Antonia happened to be then you will atleast know that the Temples were NEVER located there.

Mr. Cohen said...

The big-mouthed Radical-Feminist trouble-makers at the Kotel have the full backing of the Reform “Judaism” movement and Conservative “Judaism” movement, and the many allegedly-Jewish organizations that are similar to them.

If you doubt this, then go to www.ejewishphilanthropy.com where the Radical-Feminist trouble-makers are portrayed as innocent victims of unreasonable prejudice.

We know that Radical-Feminists are at the Kotel with the intention of making trouble because they come with camera-men from the news-media.

Sincere Jews come to the Kotel with prayer books, but Radical-Feminist trouble-makers come to the Kotel with news cameras, designed to broadcast the action to the news-media.

Hypocrisy of the Anti-Israel BDS Movement:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/03/guest-postanti-israel-hypocrisy.html

Ancient Roman historians connected Jews with the Land of Israel:
https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/02/guest-post-josephus-vs-muslim-liars.html

Why Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/04/guest-post-why-pray-for-idf.html

How to Pray for Tzahal-IDF:
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-pray-for-tzahal-idf.html

How Torah Can Defeat Terrorism:
(based on the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov ZYA)

https://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2017/08/defeat-terror-with-torah.html