Perilous
Times
Female Israeli worshiper could be sent to prison for praying
at Wailing Wall
An Israeli worshiper who defied orthodox Jewish custom by leading
a group of women in open prayer at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall has
been told to expect years in prison for breaching the peace.
Despite the arrest of Mrs Hoffman her supporters are continuing
their monthly services at the Wailing Wall
By Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem 9:00PM GMT 06 Jan 2011
The Telegraph UK
Anat Hoffman has been awaiting her fate since being arrested in
August amid a worsening debate about her campaign to allow women
to pray at Judaism's holiest site in the same way as men. The
police have now chosen to ask prosecutors to charge her with
"disrupting a policeman performing his duties under dire
circumstances", a crime that carries a mandatory prison sentence
of up to three years.
Many in the country's rapidly growing ultra-orthodox community
believe that a woman's role at the wall should be limited to
silent worship. Women should not be allowed, they believe, to read
aloud, sing or read from the Torah.
Mrs Hoffman's case is a stark illustration of the growing power of
religious groups in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem where the
segregation of the sexes is becoming more common. She and her
followers have been taunted and even assaulted by ultra-orthodox
men at the Wailing Wall, part of the western wall of the Jewish
Temple that was otherwise destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.
In August, she recalled recently: "They took me to the jail and
told me: 'we're going to put an end to this behaviour; you won't
get away with it any more'."
That she is facing so stern a request for punishment from the
authorities is evidence, Mrs Hoffman said, of the rise of the
religion Right in what is a secular country.
There are now over 100 state bus routes, many of them in
Jerusalem, that offer segregated services requiring women to sit
in the back. Israel's High Court yesterday ruled that the practice
could continue. Many offices in the city also keep the sexes apart
while a growing number of clinics require men and women to book
appointments on different days.
"The religious world in Israel has become more and more extreme,"
Mrs Hoffman said. "Much like in Islam, religiosity is now measured
by the distances at which women are kept from society."
Despite the threat of jail, Mrs Hoffman and her supporters are
continuing their monthly services at the Wailing Wall. Mrs Hoffman
and her fellow members of the Women of the Wall group test the
boundaries of religious strictures by singing and praying out loud
but they refrain from reading the Torah.
As they broke into song at a recent gathering, the men's section
grew more restive as resentment started to stir. A bearded man,
his black cloak marking him as ultra-orthodox, shook a fist at the
women and yelled: "Burn in hell, you dogs."