On February 11th, 2013 in Jerusalem, 10 women including 2 American Rabbis were arrested by the Israeli Police for praying at the western wall while wearing prayer shawls that are traditionally worn by men. The women detained were part of a group called Women of the Wall which is a women's rights group that has been gathering for the last 24 years to protest the ultra-Orthodox insistence that only men can pray at the wall wearing the traditional garb, which is also a rule backed by the Supreme Court. Micky Rosenfield, who is a spokesman for the Israeli Police said that the women were not charged with criminal offenses, but were banned from returning to the wall for 15 days. He quoted that the women had been detained "as a result of them wearing the garments they are not allowed to wear specifically at that site." These arrests have added to the growing tensions that have began to rise between Jewish leaders in the United States and the Israeli government. One of the Women arrested was Rabbi Susan Silverman who said "it's just so utterly absurd that there are laws against Jews praying wearing their prayer clothes in Israel."
From a Sociological perspective the fact that these women were arrested for committing this act would seem unfathomable to people living in the United States because it seems like something so minuscule. Imagine being a women who gets arrested for wearing a garb that is traditionally worn by men here in the U.S. This seems a little crazy to people who are not living in Israel that are not Jewish because it doesn't happen here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/world/middleeast/Women-Praying-at-Western-Wall-Detained.html?ref=women&_r=0
Alice Gunning
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