To those complaining about the mechitza issue: it is clear to me that WOW will never actually succeed in getting the mechitza removed, even temporarily. I do not see what bearing this has on their current activities. I will also repeat that the group does not include taking down the mechitza as a central goal within its mission statement.
Oh Shreck: if sarcasm and condescension are your attempt at civility, I’d hate to see you being rude. But to respond to each of your points:
First of all, no, I do not share the views and goals of Women of the Wall. I do not wear a tallis nor want to wear a tallis, and I do not count myself in a minyan.
Women of the Wall state that they want to wear taleisim and that they have a “right” to do so. This is not the same thing as proclaiming total equality and egalitarianism. You know what? Sometimes I show up for mincha and I’m the only woman there. It’s not common for women to attend mincha, but I do it anyway because I have just as much of a “right” to be there as any of the men. This must mean I want total equality! Next I’ll be demanding that I be allowed to daven from the amud!
As for creating a spectacle by reading from the Torah “collectively” and “out loud”– this certainly does not mean that they are yelling. In fact, I’m quite sure that the voice of the baalas koreh cannot be heard over the sounds of davening, song, and conversation. The Kotel is a busy and therefore noisy place. A woman reading from the Torah as part of a group of other women is not a spectacle unless bystanders decide to make it one.
As far as why Women of the Wall cannot take their prayers into the bathroom: if you’re so offended by them, why can’t you take YOUR prayers into the bathroom? You tell me why you’re so superior. You tell me that you have ruach hakodesh to know that Hashem doesn’t accept their prayers and wants to evict them from the Kotel. You tell me that you are blameless, flawless, without sin. You think they don’t dress in a tzanua manner? Maybe they don’t. I don’t know, I don’t spend my time looking at women to scrutinize what they are or aren’t wearing. But if they are in fact not tzanua? Well, no one is free from aveira, but one of the beautiful things about Yiddishkeit is that Hashem will accept our prayers anyway. You cannot tell me that someone who commits an aveira– which is to say, every single Jew– has no right to daven at the Kotel because he or she can’t possibly feel kedusha and is making a mockery of Hashem.
Conceited, arrogant, ignorant? Who knows? I am not personally acquainted with these women. Are you? Would you like me to make something up about you?
As far as “spewing garbage”…well, I hardly have the heart to continue. What ever happened to v’ahavta l’reyacha kamocha?
I am not asking you to agree with WOW’s activities. I have already said that I don’t personally agree either. I am just saying that sinat chinam will get us nowhere as a nation, and like it or not, WOW are a part of Am Yisrael. Mashiach will not come until we can ALL get along, even with those who do not behave as we do. Condemn their activities? Reiterate the halacha? Sure, as long as you do it politely and respectfully. A Jew should always have a kind word to say to another Jew, and certainly this should be the case if you want the percentage of kiruv successes to rise.