Nearsighted Ambition of: “The Women of the Wall”

In the controversial struggle over a women’s right to pray at a wall built by an Edomite murderer, the key word is: “pray”.

One would assume that when anyone prays, not just women, their objective is to reach the ear of God and, hopefully, to obtain some sort of response.

So the question then becomes: Why do: “The Women of the Edomite Wall” think that praying in this particular location will aid them in their attempt to communicate with God?

For example: Abraham communicated with God on a regular basis, yet only once is it recorded that he made contact with God on Mount Moriah and, even then, it was NOT as the result of a prayer.

Isaac communicated with God, but not at Mount Moriah.

Jacob communicated with God, but not at Mount Moriah.

Moses, of course, communicated with God; but then again: Who cares about Moses? After all, every year: “The Women of the Edomite Wall” conduct Passover Seders with Hagaddah’s that have, for all intents and purposes, expunged Moses from the Passover Story.  

As I like to ask: If God commanded you to tell the story of Apple Computer, would you mention Steve Jobs only once?

Regardless, lots of people pray, but not too many get a response and even less get an almost immediate response.

Samson prayed, in a Philistine Temple no less, and got an immediate response.

But my all time favorite story is the one concerning the birth of Samuel. This is relevant to this article for two reasons:

1)    It did not take place at Mount Moriah

2)    It involves a woman

Just in case you are not familiar with this particular story, a very brief re-cap:

A woman by the name of: “Hanah” (i.e. “Grace”) is unable to have a baby. She goes to Shilo and while there begins to pray in silence within the eyesight of the High Priest: “Eli”.

Because she is so upset about her infertility, as she is praying she begins to cry. Eli observes her lips moving, but hears no words. When he also notices that she is crying, he puts 2 and 2 together and comes up with 5 by drawing the wrong conclusion and accusing Hanah of being drunk.

Hanah explains that she is: “crying her heart out to the Lord” and Eli then replies:

“May the Lord give you what you asked for…..”

Once again, this is a very brief summation and a very loose translation of the Hebrew story, nevertheless, there are some very valuable points which: "The Women of the Edomite Wall” might benefit from by taking to heart.

First of all, there is the concept of: “grace”

In other words: The Children of Israel are God’s chosen people thru the grace of God, not because we have a right to be God’s chosen people or have done 10,000 “mitzvot” and have earned the right to be God’s chosen people.

Second, there are the deep emotions of the story. In Samson’s story there are also deep emotions, but these are of: remorse. In Hanah’s case it seems that she is overwhelmed with sadness and is asking the lord to have pity on her.

Finally, there is the response of Eli. I mean: This is truly a holy place, not like the phony Edomite Wall that the rabbis claim is holy. Within a few meters of where Hanah stands is the very Ark of the Covenant constructed under the supervision of the man cast out of the Passover Service by the rabbis.

YET !!!

Nowhere in the story does Eli the priest, a man who really is authorized to conduct prayer services (in contrast to the rabbis who are not) say that it is forbidden for Hanah to pray in this holy location.

In fact, the exact opposite is true. Eli blesses her prayer….

So then, in conclusion: What can we learn from this story?

1)    The Edomite Wall is NOT a holy location, it is merely an historical site, but, even if it was holy, it is not the only place in Israel where one can pray. So if “The Women of the Edomite Wall” really wanted to communicate with God they could conduct their prayer services anywhere.

2)    Rabbis, even male rabbis, are NOT authorized by God to conduct prayer services; so female rabbis conducting prayer services is ALSO a joke.

3)      In order to get a response to one’s prayer, it appears that a certain amount of emotional commitment is involved. “The Women of the Edomite Wall” are emotional, but their emotion is: anger. In other words: they are not really attempting to communicate with God, they are attempting to obtain a political concession from the rabbis.

4)    If “The Women of the Edomite Wall” stand by and say nothing when the rabbis, for all intents and purposes, expel Moses from the Passover service and have excommunicated Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from Judaism by declaring they are: “Noahides” and not “real” Jews; then why should anyone say anything in their defense when the rabbis expel them from the area around the Edomite wall?