Reading at the Kotel
02/27/2025 04:24:00 PM
In December, I had the privilege of hearing my wife, Merrianne Leff, read from the Torah at the Kotel in Jerusalem. She was chanting the Hanukkah reading.
She was not in the women’s section, for I would not have been able to hear or see her there. She was at the “Family Kotel”, also known as the Ezrat Yisrael section, praying with a group of men and women . This area, at the southern end of the Kotel, is administered and funded by the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel. It is basically ignored by the government, and often comes under attack by the Ultra Orthodox. Yet it was filled with people, both religious and secular, celebrating, praying, observing B’nai Mitzvah, with men and women, young and old, all together in one place.
If you want this to continue, with all the political pressure against it from the Ultra Orthodox, you must vote! Vote in the upcoming WZO election (voting starts March 10) to maintain progressive voice in the WZO, protecting religious freedom. Go to mercazusa.org/votemercaz2025 for more information, and to link to voting starting March 10.
Zarky Rudavsky