ABSTRACT
The Women of the Wall (WoW) and their struggle for space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem offer a metaphor for Israel's evolving national identity as well as for the place of women in both Judaism and progressive society. WoW is a group of women, Israeli as well as citizens of the Jewish Disapora, who wish to hold communal prayers in the women's section of the holiest of Jewish sites, the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The struggle of WoW has triggered litigation, deliberations by commissions, parliamentary debates and legislative bills, cabinet crises and arrests of women as they pray. WoW is a metaphor because it stands for a concept of Jewishness that fits well with Zionist ideals, with the democratic component of the State of Israel, and with a forward-looking and inclusive Judaism, that stands for pluralism, for accommodation, for inclusion, and for dignity.
