Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism's Holy Site
An Inspiration to All Who Struggle for Religious and Gender Equality
“Our souls yearn to pray, in peace, in the sacred place, to read from our holy Torah, together with other Jewish women.”
—from the
In Israel today, the historic Western Wall, known as the Kotel, a holy site for Jewish people, is under the religious authority of the Orthodox rabbinate. Women have only limited rights to practice Jewish ritual in its precincts.
This passionate book documents the legendary grassroots and legal struggle of a determined group of Jewish women from Israel, the United States, and other parts of the world—known as the Women of the Wall—to win the right to pray out loud together as a group, according to Jewish law; wear ritual objects; and read from Torah scrolls at the Western Wall.
Eyewitness accounts of physical violence and intimidation, inspiring personal stories, and interpretations of legal and classical Jewish (halakhic) texts bring to life the historic and ongoing struggle that the Women of the Wall face in their everyday fight for religious and gender equality.
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Book details
- Author
- Phyllis Chesler
- Imprint
- Jewish Lights, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism
- Topics
- Western Wall · Jewish women · religious equality · gender equality · prayer rights · Jewish spirituality · holy sites
- ISBN-13
- 9781683365037
About the author
PHYLLIS CHESLER is a psychotherapist, professor emerita of psychology and women’s studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY), and the author of 20 books. Her recent books include An American Bride in Kabul, Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman and Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody.
Chesler earned her Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research in 1969. Her 1972 book Women and Madness sold over three million copies worldwide and An American Bride in Kabul won a National Jewish Book Award.
When she’s not writing, Chesler co-founded the Association for Women in Psychology, the National Women’s Health Network, and the International Committee for the Original Women of the Wall. Much of her work explores the intersection of women’s rights, psychology and justice.
Phyllis lives in New York City.