DURHAM -- A group of women from Judea Reform Congregation will gather tonight for a prayer service in solidarity with Jewish women worldwide who are denied the opportunity to wear a prayer shawl and read from the Torah at Judaism's holiest site - Jerusalem's Western Wall.
The service, along with others like it globally, comes in the wake of last month's arrest of an Israeli woman who defied the law by wearing the traditional shawl, called a "tallit," and reading from the Torah.
Nofrat Frenkel, a fourth-year medical student and a religiously observant Jew, was among 40 women who gathered at the wall, as they do monthly. The women are allowed to pray, so long as they don't wear the shawl or read from the Torah, according to the rules developed by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which has been given sole authority over the sacred site.
"It's not OK with us, nor it is OK that fundamentalist Orthodox Jews get to say how other people observe Judaism," said Heidi Aycock of Chapel Hill, a member ofJudea Reform.
These women want to register their opposition to Israeli law, which privileges Orthodox Judaism above all other forms of the faith. Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism regard women as fully equal to men. Orthodox Judaism excludes women from publicly leading services.
In a compromise, Israeli authorities have allowed women to wear the prayer shawls and read from the Torah at the nearby Robinson's Arch. But that has not satisfied the growing group of religiously devout Jewish women who want equal access to the wall itself.
In Israel, there is no separation between church and state as in the U.S. Certain religious rituals, such as marriage and burial,are controlled by the Orthodox Jewish establishment, even though the majority of Jews are not Orthodox or, for that matter, religious.
"We believe that the Western Wall in Jerusalem is a public space and a holy site to Jews of all denominations and from all cultures," said Rabbi Leah Berkowitz of Judea Reform, who is organizing the service. "Women should not be harassed or penalized for lifting their voices in prayer."
The prayer service at Judea Reform will be followed by a letter-writing campaign to the Israeli ambassador and Israel's prime minister and president, among others.
The letters will protest Frenkel's arrest, which has prompted outrage around the world, especially since she was charged with a felony - "performing a religious act that offends the feelings of others." If convicted, she will not be able to practice medicine.
Last month's women's gathering at the wall was attended by Durham resident Naomi Adland, 23, who is studying this year in Jerusalem. On her blog, she wrote: "At the 'holiest' place in Jerusalem, I am not allowed to wrap myself in a sacred garment to make my prayer even holier? This is something I will never understand about Israel."
Adland's feelings are shared by others who now want to support the group of women who hold monthly prayers at the wall.
On Monday, a group of women from Raleigh's Temple Beth Or will decide how best to support the "Women of the Wall" movement that seeks to make the holy site more egalitarian.
"An incident like this reminds us we have to continue to support this," said Cherie Marcus of Beth Or. "If we can't physically be there, we have to make sure somebody is."
