Lesley Sachs of WOW @ Temple B'nai Abraham

On Wednesday night, April 22, Temple B’nai Abraham hosted Lesley Sachs, Executive Director of Women of the Wall (WOW). WOW began in 1988 when a group of women gathered to pray at the Kotel, ( Jerusalem, Israel) out loud to welcome the new month (Rosh Hodesh). Their voices and their presence were not welcome and thus began a long journey towards religious freedom and equality. This was an exciting week to hear Lesley speak because on Monday morning to welcome Rosh Hodesh Iyar, men who support WOW handed them a Torah from the men’s side of the Kotel to the women’s side. This was a historic day for WOW to read from a full-size Torah! They managed to bring in a tiny Torah (on loan) in October, 2013 and celebrated the first B’not Mitzvah at the Kotel then.
Lesley Sachs, Executive Director of Women of the Wall, was one of the founding members of “Isha L’isha – Haifa’s Feminist Center” and worked for 10 years in the Israel Women’s Network. Lesley served as Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) and then as Vice President of the World Union For Progressive Judaism.
Lesley explained, to the over 70 attendees at TBA, some of the ups and downs of the past years. There were times when she was arrested (over 20 times!) for the “crime” of wearing a tallis. She emphasized that thanks to great support from North American Jewry, the arrests have stopped. Former Israel Ambassador/current Member of K’nesset Michael Oren spoke with PM Netanyahu a couple of years ago and stressed that the negative publicity of the right-wing intolerance to Women of the Wall was causing a strain on relations between North American Jews and Israel.
This event was co-sponsored by Temple B’nai Abraham, Montclair Jewish Workshop, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Congregation Beth Ahm of West Essex and Temple Sholom of West Essex.

1-Pictured with Lesley Sachs , Executive Director of WOW (in the middle) are (l-r) Amy Rabb-Liu, Montclair Jewish Workshop and Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz, Temple B’nai Abraham.

2-Pictured Lesley Sachs speaking @ TBA