10 Minutes of Torah - Jewish World

This is a special edition of 10 minutes of Torah, composed with love for the people, state and God of Israel. We believe that this Shabbat, that celebrates an extraordinary revelation of God to Moses, we need to celebrate the universality of the revelation – to men and most particularly to women. It is written in the form of a lesson plan and we hope that whether you are in a school, a synagogue, or in your home, you take the time to study a lesson that is as timely as it is timeless. We are all created b’tzelem Elohim, i.e., in the divine image.

Introduction:

Beginning with the Book of Exodus, throughout history, and to this day, women have served as agents of change and voices of redemption. In fulfilling this sacred role from the time of the Torah to the present, women have been essential leaders in the fight for religious freedom. The current series of events surrounding the Women of the Wall, a monthly progressive prayer group, presents us with an opportunity and even an obligation to support those fighting for the religious rights of women in Israel. These events are reminders that while we are all Jews with differing approaches to ritual and halacha, we are tied together through shared devotion to the One God and a shared history.

In recent months, the Israeli police have increased pressure on Women of the Wall, a progressive monthly prayer group that meets at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The late 2009 arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for wearing a prayer shawl, or tallit, while praying at the Wall, and this month's interrogation of Anat Hoffman, who serves as both director of our counterpart, the Israel Religious Action Center, and leader of Women of the Wall, are only two examples of this intensified harassment.

The Woman of the Wall have echoes of Rosa Parks in this country, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this month provides an additional opportunity to educate our congregants about the interconnected issues of civil rights and religious freedom.

Enduring Understanding:

From the time of Torah to the present women have been essential leaders in the fight for religious freedom and civil equality.

What is the relationship between the issues presented by the Women of the Wall and the Civil Rights Movement?
What is the relationship between the issues of Women of the Wall and Israelite struggle for freedom as depicted in Shemot, Exodus?
What is my role regarding the issues presented by Women of the Wall?
Why is the Kotel a sacred place for Jews? What is my connection the Kotel?
Why should I care about the Women of the Wall?
What can I do to support the Women of the Wall?

Questions to be Addressed:

Who are the Women of the Wall?

What contributions have women made to the fight for religious and civil rights throughout history?

In what ways are the issues that the Women of the Wall are facing similar to the issues faced by the American Civil Rights Movement?

Action Piece:

The extent to which non-Orthodox religious freedom is limited by the authorities is alarming. As such, the Reform Movement is urging the Israeli government to enforce the law at the Kotel in an equal and just manner, and to end harassment of women gathering there for prayer. We also urge Israeli authorities allow gatherings for civic and religious purposes by all responsible Jewish groups in the plaza area of the Wall, as was customary in the past.

The URJ is compiling a diverse array of resources, information, and actions that you can take to raise your voice on this important issue. The clearinghouse for all of these materials is www.urj.org/israel/wow; be sure to check the site website frequently for updated information and action items.

For more information, please contact Liz Piper-Goldberg, Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center, at 202.387.2800.

Vocabulary

Kotel    (Hebrew), The Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple and a holy site for the Jewish people.

Women of the Wall   Monthly progressive prayer group that meets to pray at the Western Wall every Rosh Chodesh (first day of the Hebrew Month).

Set induction
Post a photograph of the Western Wall. A leader asks teens to identify the landmark in the photograph. Ask if any of them have visited the Western Wall. Program leader then explains to students that the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, is a most important historical and spiritual place for Jews. The Western Wall was originally a retaining wall of the Second Temple, built by King Herod in the first century of the Common Era. When the rest of the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE and the Jewish people were sent out of the Land of Israel into exile, the Western Wall remained as a symbol of Jewish religious freedom.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, said of the Western Wall, "Throughout the generations, the Kotel has been a source of inspiration to Jews everywhere. It is a concrete symbol of our love for Jerusalem and our common Jewish destiny.” Today, the Western Wall is like a synagogue – a holy place of prayer and gathering for Jews from around the world.

This video explains the current story of Women of the Wall, and includes an interview with Anat Hoffman, head of the Israel Religious Action Center, in which she makes specific reference to Rosa Parks.
http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2010/01/07/1010051/anat-hoffman-interrogated

Activities or instruction
(with a group of teens)

Post the photo of Rosa Parks (below). Ask teens what they know about Rosa Parks and why what she did was so important. Encourage the students to talk about how they feel about what she did and why she is considered a hero.

The teens will familiarize themselves with significant women throughout history who have been leaders in the fight for religious and civil rights. Program leaders will portray these women and teens will rotate in small groups to meet with each of these women and hear their stories.

Name means “one who loves or is loved by God”
Older sister of Moses
Suggested to the Pharaoh’s daughter who found Moses in the river that a Hebrew woman should be found as a nurse for the baby
Led the Hebrew women in song and dance after Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the Red Sea

Was a judge. She rendered her judgments from under a palm tree.
Wife of Lapidot
Asked Barak, a military commander, to attack the oppressive king of Canaan, Jabin. Barak said he would only go if Deborah came with him. She did, and the Israelites won the battle, just as she had prophesized.

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, age 42, refused to obey a bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.
Her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Was a secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP
Died in 2005 at the age of 92

Was born the 2nd of 8 children in a strict Quaker home in Adams, MA
Played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage (voting rights) into the United States
In her early years, she helped support the temperance movement to ban alcohol
In 1869, she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Women's Suffrage Association (NWSA), an organization dedicated to gaining women's suffrage.

Was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama, who was paid significantly less than her male counterparts at the company. She sued the company for unfair pay.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009.
It amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.
The law was a direct answer to Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the statute of limitations for presenting an equal-pay lawsuit begins at the date the pay was agreed upon, not at the date of the most recent paycheck.

Was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II
Discovered and preserved Anne Frank's diary after the Franks were arrested
Unsuccessfully tried to bribe an Austrian Nazi officer to release her friends after they were discovered
In 1994, was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; in 1995, she received the Yad Vashem medal; and in 1997, she was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Contracted a fever when she was 19 months old, and emerged both blind and deaf
Was instructed by Anne Sullivan, who taught her to communicate by using sign language into Helen’s hand
Was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree
Wrote an autobiography, The Story of My Life

Wife of John Adams, the 2nd president of the U.S.A.
Mother of John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the U.S.A.
Wrote many letters of advice to John Adams while he was in Philadelphia during the Continental Congresses
Was very politically active when she was First Lady in Washington, D.C.
Was an advocate for women’s and slaves’ rights

Pioneered women’s roles in journalism and investigative journalism.
Wrote an expose after going undercover into the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in New York
Made a trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days

Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Was the first First Lady to hold weekly press conferences and started writing a newspaper column, "My Day"
Held 348 press conferences over the span of her husband’s twelve-year presidency, promoting humanitarian causes, such as unemployment, poverty, education, rural life, and the role of women in society.

Born Isabella Baumfree, a slave in Swartekill, New York
Was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
Her best-known speech, “Ain't I a Woman?”, was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio

Was the 4th Prime Minister of Israel, and the 1st female Prime Minister of Israel
Was Prime Minister during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War
While prime minister, she spent much of her time developing support for Israel by meeting with western leaders

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Person portraying Anat Hoffman will address the group as a whole once rotations are complete and relate the history and current events surrounding the Women of the Wall.

Conclusion.

Bring teens back together to a large group and discuss each of the women that they met. Briefly discuss the history of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement. Many Jewish Americans went to Mississippi in 1964 to fight for civil rights in what became known as the “Freedom Summer.” Others helped register African American voters in various southern states. Further, much of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act were written in the building that is home to the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, which has long been a hub of civil rights activity. Several early presidents of the NAACP were Jews, including Kivie Kaplan, a former Honorary Vice-Chair of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism). Currently, Rabbi David Saperstein, the RAC’s Director, is the sole white member of the National Board of the NAACP.

Consider the parallels between the Israelite struggle for freedom and the struggle of African Americans. First, there are common elements of enslavement, the desire for liberty, the role and importance of leadership within the community, the tendency within the ruling class to resist the forces of social change, and the ultimate triumph of justice.

In Parshat Va’era, God proclaims, “I am Adonai. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your G-d,” (6:6-7). These verses, well known from the Pesach seder, are the root of G-d’s redemptive promise to the Jewish people.

Teens will conclude by writing notes for the Kotel with a specific focus on the religious and civil rights values that they have learned about. They can also write wishes for the Women of the Wall. These notes will be sent to Israel to be placed in the Western Wall.

We suggest you conclude with the prayer for peace in the state of Israel.

Oh Heavenly One, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace. Shield it beneath the wings of Your love; spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to all who lead and advise, guiding them with Your good counsel. Establish peace in the land and fullness of joy for all who dwell there.

FOR ADULTS

Set induction

Program leader then explains to participants that the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, is a most important historical and spiritual place for Jews. The Western Wall was originally part of the Second Temple, built by King Herod in the first century of the Common Era. When the rest of the Temple was destroyed by the Romans and the Jewish people were sent out of the Land of Israel into exile, the Western Wall remained as a symbol of religious freedom. What was your experience of the Kotel?

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, said of the Western Wall, "Throughout the generations, the Kotel has been a source of inspiration to Jews everywhere. It is a concrete symbol of our love for Jerusalem and our common Jewish destiny.” Today, the Western Wall is like a synagogue – a holy place of prayer and gathering for Jews from around the world.

Show this video, which explains the current story of Women of the Wall, and includes an interview with Anat Hoffman, head of the Israel Religious Action Center, in which she makes specific reference to Rosa Parks.
http://blogs.jta.org/wanderingjew/article/2010/01/07/1010051/anat-hoffman-interrogated

Activities or instruction

Brainstorm and compile a list of significant women throughout history who have been leaders in the fight for religious freedom and civil rights. Many people may have stories to share of “unsung” heroes who fought for religious and civil equality.

Participants will then read the biographical information provided about key women throughout history, concluding with the biography of Anat Hoffman.

Conclusion.

Compose wishes for the Women of the Wall. These notes will be sent to Israel and placed in the Kotel.

Prayer for peace in the state of Israel.

Oh Heavenly One, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace. Shield it beneath the wings of Your love; spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to all who lead and advise, guiding them with Your good counsel. Establish peace in the land and fullness of joy for all who dwell there.

2. Woman of the Wall. edited by Phyllis Chesler and Rivka Haut; Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003.

9. Participate in community service on MLK Day by finding a service opportunity in your area us http://www.mlkday.gov/