Praying In Her Own Voice

Director Yael Katzir will be in person at the Castro and participate in a panel discussion, Women and Judaism: Questions of Equality, after the Berkeley screening. The other panelists are: Rabbi Lisa Edwards, filmmaker and journalist Ashima Kaul, and Anat Hoffman. Naomi Seidman will moderate the panel.

Director Yael Katzir and Anat Hoffman, one of the founders of Women of the Wall and one of the main subjects in the film, will be at all three screenings.

When the Western Wall was captured by Israel in 1967, it may have been unthinkable that Orthodox women would years later assert their right to participate fully in religious life there. Praying in Her Own Voice documents the contentious struggle of Women of the Wall for the right to wear prayer shawls and read aloud from a Torah scroll—acts that Jewish law permits women to perform but that are fiercely objected to by the Orthodox authority that has jurisdiction over this national symbol and public space. Director Yael Katzir explained her motivation for making the film: “I was moved or to be precise provoked by the fact that the ultra-Orthodox rabbi of the Wall opposes the voices of women” — quite literally, they are required to pray silently. Following the group for two years, the film includes affecting footage of the women praying aloud, negotiating for equal treatment, pursuing their case to the Supreme Court and enduring violent confrontations with their ultra-Orthodox opponents. Women of the Wall’s legal battle is a test case that marks the intersection of religious and secular life in Israel. This excellent documentary highlights the power and conviction of women seeking religious freedom.

—Nancy K. Fishman

Presented with Four Questions For a Rabbi

Co-presented by Temple Sinai of Oakland and Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter