WUNRN
Israel:
Cinema of Exclusion
Film:
Praying in Their Own Voice
By Ashima Kaul
Jerusalem (Women's Feature Service) - "In my voice,
your voice, a woman's voice I expand another prayer...
My voice rises and cries out to Heaven... In my voice,
in a woman's voice, is prayer."
This soulful morning prayer is rendered to a crescendo
at the Western Wall in Jerusalem by a group of women -
known as the Women of the Wall (WOW). Yet, despite a
passionate rendition, they are accused of breaking the
law by the ultra orthodox rabbinate, which has
declared the Western Wall a religious space subject to
orthodox law and custom. According to Jewish laws
women are forbidden to sing, wear prayer shawls, read
the Torah or pray aloud even in the women's section of
the Wall.
In defiance to this discriminating rule, WOW was
formed in 1998 when a group of Israeli and American
men and women, who were present in the city for a
feminist conference, spontaneously decided to pray
together at the Western Wall (Kotel).
A remnant of the wall surrounding the Jewish Temple in
Jerusalem that was destroyed by the Romans 2,000 years
ago, the Western Wall became a symbol of the Jewish
people's longing for Jerusalem. In 1967, it became
part of Israel. Since then there has been a public
debate over to whom the wall belongs. "The Prime
Minster had a choice either to give it to the
archaeologists or the rabbis. He gave it to the
rabbis," says filmmaker Prof. Yael Katzir, who has
directed the award-winning 'Praying in Their Own
Voice', a film about WOW.
Said to present "an Israeli perspective on democracy,
Israeli-ness and Judaism", 'Praying in...' was
recently screened in India at the International
Festival of Tribal Arts and Culture by Indian
Infotainment Media Corporation and Vanya Prakashan,
Tribal Welfare Department, Madhya Pradesh. Katzir, who
is in her mid-sixties and Head of Communal Cable TV in
Beit Berl College, Tel Aviv, was present at the
festival.
"The Wall is a cultural and national symbol of unity
but the ultra orthodox rabbinate made it like a
synagogue. They want to impose their orthodoxy on all
Jews. For me, it is unacceptable that women are not
allowed to read from the Torah. It became extremely
important for me to become a voice through my film,"
said Katzir.
The film introduces a group of women belonging to all
streams of Judaism -Orthodox, Reform and Conservative
- who want to worship and have a share in Jewish
ritual and the state of Israel. Ironically, unlike in
Jewish communities in the rest of the world, women in
Israel are being exiled.
"The Torah is my connection as an Israeli and Jewish
woman to the most primal source of my identity. If I
can't read from the Torah scroll as a woman, then no
one has the right to read it," says Peggy Cidor, a
journalist and member of WOW, to the camera. Katzir
captures an emotive Cidor as she adds, "The Torah
doesn't belong to the group but to everyone. We women
were there when the Torah was given at Sinai. We were
part of it. So we are fighting for the basic rights to
recite the morning prayers."
However, Katzir, who is committed to the idea of
inclusivity, brings in the voices of those who oppose
the WOW. "The Torah gives you no right, you have
nothing at all. Those who violate the Torah rules goes
to hell," says MP Rabi Nissim Zeev, Shaas Political
Party.
The film makes an emphatic statement when it starts
with various groups of people praying at the Western
Wall, the celebration on Jerusalem day, Official
Memorial Day Ceremony, The Ninth Day of Av and most
importantly swearing in ceremony for Paratroopers. "I
have purposely done that," shared Katzir, "The Wall is
a public space. Yet, it is here that women's voices
are silenced. While the ultra orthodox are trying to
combine religion and state in the name of unity, women
are fighting to combine religion with feminism."
In the film, the WOW raise a significant point when
they say, "Israel markets the Western Wall as a place
of National Unity. How can there be unity if bullies
control the Wall?"
It is with this plea that the WOW went to the Supreme
Court. The judges delivered their first judgment in
2002: the group's prayers were in accordance with the
Jewish Law. However, a consequent nationwide outcry
led to the Supreme Court appointing nine judges to
reconsider the petition. The film captures the journey
of the WOW over a two-year period - from the time of
the second judgment delivered by the nine judges in
2003, according to which the WOW were to be given an
alternate site called Robinson's Arch, a few levels
lower than the main praying site.
Reacting to this, women say, "We have been excluded
and exiled. The State and the Supreme Court have
surrendered to fundamentalist demands under government
pressure, ignoring streams that demand equality within
religion."
The film includes candid responses of a wide variety
of people. Abraham Porez, former Minister of the
Interior, and MP of the Shinui Political Party, admits
that the ultra orthodox have taken over many of the
holy sites. "They control them as if they own them,"
he says. Comments Rabbi Gilead Kariv, legal attorney
and a leader of Israel Reform Movement, "Their fight
is one of the bravest regarding relations between
religion and the state in Israel. This fight has so
much to do with exclusion - exclusion of non-orthodox
groups from Judaism."
"On the surface, Israel is a democratic country. But
in the political arena, the religious parties, which
constitute only 10 to 15 per cent, look forward to any
coalition. With every political coalition they get
plenty of rights that are not legitimately theirs. In
the process, they take control," explained Katzir at
Indore, the venue of the festival.
Katzir lead the audience through time and space to
juxtapose arguments of those who affirmed women's
rights and those who felt "their action is provocative
and politically motivated". Without intervening at any
point so as not to mislead the viewer, Katzir raised
important questions related to a woman's personal,
communal and public identity and who defines and
controls that. The film ends with women blowing the
Ram's horn or the 'shofar' and singing, 'Let me hear
your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is
beautiful'.
While Israel is the milieu of the film, its concept
transcends international borders. For the film throws
light on how women negotiate the conflict between two
struggles: the formation of a state - usually on the
basis of a separate identity and ethnicity or
religion; and the fight for freedom - within a
religion. Katzir's production is a tool that helps
understand and challenge the politics of exclusion.
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