Lesley Sachs, ‘Women, Prayer, Feminism and Modern Israel’

Lesley Sachs will speak about the struggle of “Women of the Wall,” (WOW) a group of Israeli women seeks the right for Jewish women to conduct prayer services, read from a Torah scroll while wearing prayer shawls and sing out loud at the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred holy site. She will also discuss feminism in Israel, the tenuous situation at the Kotel and WOW’s challenges and successes. This event is an important space to explore the intersection of faith and the state, the role of women in prayer and the modern State of Israel.

This event is funded by North Carolina Hillel and Men of Reform Judaism: Reform on Campus Grant. It is co-sponsored by Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations; Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies; Department of Women’s and Gender Studies; Carolina Women’s Center; Religious Studies Department and Carolina Center for Jewish Studies. It is supported by Women in Law and AEPi. For more information, please contact rabbi Melissa B. Simon.