SOUNDS OF WAR
Finally, Sounds of war, the new documentary by Yael Katzir, produced by Katzir productions and New Love Films which will also handle distribution has reached completion and is ready for a fall line up.
Sounds of war takes a personal view on the Lebanon war through the eyes of world class musicians who were invited to study music on the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Sounds of war is a very touching and moving film about art during war time and the meaning of music as a way for dialogue between people.
The film is rumored to premiere in the fall and will be shown on Israeli TV shortly after.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
This article was just published in newspapers around the world. Once again the specter of Kozo Akomoto, the terrorist who killed my grandfather returns to haunt. This saga will never end for me or for anyone who was part of that terror attack that left so many families without their loved ones.
Here's just one of many articles from the Washington Times. I chose this newspaper not because it's the longest or most inclusive but purely cause it was the first one that appeared when I googled for this new development.
I couldn't read other articles. It annoys me to much.
U.S. court fines N. Korea for terror plot
$300 million for attack in Israel
By Ashish Kumar Sen 6:35 p.m., Monday, July 19, 2010
A federal court has found North Korea guilty of aiding terrorists and has fined Pyongyang $300 million in connection with a 1972 terrorist attack in Israel.
However, it is unlikely North Korea's totalitarian regime will recognize the U.S. court's decision and pay the fine.
"North Korea's demonstrated and well-known policy to encourage, support and direct a campaign of murder against civilians amply justifies the imposition of punitive damages against it," Judge Francisco A. Besosa of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico said in a ruling Friday.
Noting that North Korea's "budget for the export of terrorism is not known," Judge Besosa said the court would adopt the "typical punitive damages award of $300 million."
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Carmelo Calderon-Molina, a U.S. citizen who was killed in the attack at Lod Airport, now known as Ben-Gurion International Airport, in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Calderon-Molina died trying to protect a pregnant woman. Another U.S. citizen, Pablo Tirado-Ayala, was injured in the May 30, 1972, attack.
The attack was carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with material support from North Korea and North Korea's Cabinet General Intelligence Bureau.
Mr. Calderon-Molina and Mr. Tirado-Ayala were among a group of Puerto Ricans who had traveled to Israel on a pilgrimage of Christian religious sites.
Three JRA members, who had arrived at Lod Airport from Italy, took automatic weapons and grenades from their luggage and began shooting into the crowd at the terminal.
Twenty-six people were killed and more than 80 wounded in the attack.
Two of the terrorists were killed by self-inflicted wounds; a third, Kozo Okamoto, was overpowered by an airport employee.
During interrogations by Israeli authorities, Okamoto admitted that he and his fellow attackers were JRA members and the attack had been carried out in conjunction with the PFLP.
Okamato was convicted in an Israeli court and received a life sentence. He was freed in 1985 as part of a prisoner release, and is believed to be living in Lebanon.
Bruce Bechtol, a professor of international relations at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, served as an expert witness in the case.
"The evidence was overwhelming," Mr. Bechtol said in a phone interview. "A lot of this was about closure for the families, and accountability. This is just the beginning."
Families of dual U.S.-Israeli citizens who were killed or injured in Hezbollah attacks on Israel in 2006 also have filed a lawsuit against North Korea.
"This suit is being brought against North Korea because it built the tunnels and the underground facilities for Hezbollah that enabled it to attack Israel during the 2006 war, and because North Korea also supplied them with the rockets that they used," Mr. Bechtol said.
He said the 1972 case is important because it set a precedent, but the 2006 case is even more important because it shows that North Korea continues to be a state sponsor of terrorism.
North Korea did not defend itself in the case, and repeated attempts by The Washington Times to contact the North's mission to the United Nations in New York went unanswered on Monday.
Here's just one of many articles from the Washington Times. I chose this newspaper not because it's the longest or most inclusive but purely cause it was the first one that appeared when I googled for this new development.
I couldn't read other articles. It annoys me to much.
U.S. court fines N. Korea for terror plot
$300 million for attack in Israel
By Ashish Kumar Sen 6:35 p.m., Monday, July 19, 2010
A federal court has found North Korea guilty of aiding terrorists and has fined Pyongyang $300 million in connection with a 1972 terrorist attack in Israel.
However, it is unlikely North Korea's totalitarian regime will recognize the U.S. court's decision and pay the fine.
"North Korea's demonstrated and well-known policy to encourage, support and direct a campaign of murder against civilians amply justifies the imposition of punitive damages against it," Judge Francisco A. Besosa of the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico said in a ruling Friday.
Noting that North Korea's "budget for the export of terrorism is not known," Judge Besosa said the court would adopt the "typical punitive damages award of $300 million."
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Carmelo Calderon-Molina, a U.S. citizen who was killed in the attack at Lod Airport, now known as Ben-Gurion International Airport, in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Calderon-Molina died trying to protect a pregnant woman. Another U.S. citizen, Pablo Tirado-Ayala, was injured in the May 30, 1972, attack.
The attack was carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with material support from North Korea and North Korea's Cabinet General Intelligence Bureau.
Mr. Calderon-Molina and Mr. Tirado-Ayala were among a group of Puerto Ricans who had traveled to Israel on a pilgrimage of Christian religious sites.
Three JRA members, who had arrived at Lod Airport from Italy, took automatic weapons and grenades from their luggage and began shooting into the crowd at the terminal.
Twenty-six people were killed and more than 80 wounded in the attack.
Two of the terrorists were killed by self-inflicted wounds; a third, Kozo Okamoto, was overpowered by an airport employee.
During interrogations by Israeli authorities, Okamoto admitted that he and his fellow attackers were JRA members and the attack had been carried out in conjunction with the PFLP.
Okamato was convicted in an Israeli court and received a life sentence. He was freed in 1985 as part of a prisoner release, and is believed to be living in Lebanon.
Bruce Bechtol, a professor of international relations at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, served as an expert witness in the case.
"The evidence was overwhelming," Mr. Bechtol said in a phone interview. "A lot of this was about closure for the families, and accountability. This is just the beginning."
Families of dual U.S.-Israeli citizens who were killed or injured in Hezbollah attacks on Israel in 2006 also have filed a lawsuit against North Korea.
"This suit is being brought against North Korea because it built the tunnels and the underground facilities for Hezbollah that enabled it to attack Israel during the 2006 war, and because North Korea also supplied them with the rockets that they used," Mr. Bechtol said.
He said the 1972 case is important because it set a precedent, but the 2006 case is even more important because it shows that North Korea continues to be a state sponsor of terrorism.
North Korea did not defend itself in the case, and repeated attempts by The Washington Times to contact the North's mission to the United Nations in New York went unanswered on Monday.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
FLOWER POWER
Just came back from Northern California where we were filming all week our new documentary: FLOWER POWER.
Filming is in high gear and we have already partnered with LUCK FILMS, Willie Nelson's production company which is very exciting.
We have also teamed up with Lati Grobman, who is executive producing this film with us. Lati Grobman's latest film - Righteous Kill was an international hit, teaming up the two mega stars- Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two haven't worked together for many years and many fans of the two were eager to see the two of them together again and weren't disappointed.
Principal shoot of FLOWER POWER will be until November 2010 and the film is scheduled to be released in April 2011.
Just came back from Northern California where we were filming all week our new documentary: FLOWER POWER.
Filming is in high gear and we have already partnered with LUCK FILMS, Willie Nelson's production company which is very exciting.
We have also teamed up with Lati Grobman, who is executive producing this film with us. Lati Grobman's latest film - Righteous Kill was an international hit, teaming up the two mega stars- Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two haven't worked together for many years and many fans of the two were eager to see the two of them together again and weren't disappointed.
Principal shoot of FLOWER POWER will be until November 2010 and the film is scheduled to be released in April 2011.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Like many filmmakers I've also got into the new DSLR craze and just purchased my Canon 5D. One of the frustrating things is the lack of information out there for documentarians about this new technology. So to help the five people that look at this blog, I've decided to share a little bit of what I've learned as I'm learning it.
I've already had a few shooting days with this camera with phenomenal results and I do urge filmmakers on a tight budget to purchase this camera as the quality and the ability to shoot it low light make it an ideal candidate for making docs.
The disadvantages are:
1. Sound
2. Price
3. More technical knowhow than just shooting on a simpler prosumer camcorder -
But
The ability to get images that are superb and the abiliity to shoot in low light with very little light compensate heavily for the hassle of building a system rather than purchasing a camera that has it all.
Anyways, more about this camera and what I've learned about it in the next blog.
I've already had a few shooting days with this camera with phenomenal results and I do urge filmmakers on a tight budget to purchase this camera as the quality and the ability to shoot it low light make it an ideal candidate for making docs.
The disadvantages are:
1. Sound
2. Price
3. More technical knowhow than just shooting on a simpler prosumer camcorder -
But
The ability to get images that are superb and the abiliity to shoot in low light with very little light compensate heavily for the hassle of building a system rather than purchasing a camera that has it all.
Anyways, more about this camera and what I've learned about it in the next blog.
Like many filmmakers I've also got into the new DSLR craze and just purchased my Canon 5D. One of the frustrating things is the lack of information out there for documentarians about this new technology. So to help the five people that look at this blog, I've decided to share a little bit of what I've learned as I'm learning it.
I've already had a few shooting days with this camera with phenomenal results and I do urge filmmakers on a tight budget to purchase this camera as the quality and the ability to shoot it low light make it an ideal candidate for making docs.
The disadvantages are:
1. Sound
2. Price
3. More technical knowhow than just shooting on a simpler prosumer camcorder -
But
The ability to get images that are superb and the abiliity to shoot in low light with very little light compensate heavily for the hassle of building a system rather than purchasing a camera that has it all.
I've already had a few shooting days with this camera with phenomenal results and I do urge filmmakers on a tight budget to purchase this camera as the quality and the ability to shoot it low light make it an ideal candidate for making docs.
The disadvantages are:
1. Sound
2. Price
3. More technical knowhow than just shooting on a simpler prosumer camcorder -
But
The ability to get images that are superb and the abiliity to shoot in low light with very little light compensate heavily for the hassle of building a system rather than purchasing a camera that has it all.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Kozo Akomoto Again.
Once again, the memories come back to haunt my family as the images of Kozo Akomoto the world wide infamous terrorist glorify newspapers worldwide.
This time it's due to a new legal case against the government of North Korea regarding her side in the case. Here's more from Haaretz/Herald Tribune Sun., February 14, 2010 Shvat 30, 5770 :
Israeli legal group sues North Korea over 1972 terror attack
By Zohar Blumenkrantz
An Israeli human rights organization is filing a lawsuit against North Korea over a 1972 terrorist attack at Ben-Gurion International Airport that left more than 20 people dead and over 50 wounded, Haaretz has learned.
The attack, known as the Lod Airport massacre, was carried out by three members of the Japanese Red Army on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The victims included 16 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Advertisement
Rico, and Israeli professor and biophysicist Aharon Katzir. Advertisement
While two of the terrorists were killed over the course of the attack - one of them committing suicide - the third, Kozo Okamoto, was captured and sentenced to life in prison.
Okamoto was subsequently released from Israeli prison 13 years later, in 1985, as part of the Jibril prisoner exchange deal - one of the 1,150 security prisoners released in exchange for three Israelis captured during the first Lebanon war.
The lawsuit against North Korea stems from claims it sponsored the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army, providing material support to both organizations and assistance in planning the attack. The three terrorists arrived on an Air France flight from Paris and drew automatic guns and hand grenades, firing randomly at anybody in sight once their luggage came through the baggage claim.
"This attack was for Israelis what the September 11th attacks were for Americans," Ze'ev Sarig, the former manager of Lod Airport, explained in his testimony before a judge in Puerto Rico. "The attack changed how we viewed security at the airport and in Israeli civil aviation."
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, filed the $30 million lawsuit at a U.S. federal court in Puerto Rico on behalf of 12 of the victims' families.
Preliminary hearings to examine evidence began in Puerto Rico on December 2, 2009. Israeli experts - including Sarig and various experts on terrorism - were flown in to testify at the hearings. The claims were then translated and transferred to North Korean authorities which, according to Darshan-Leitner, have yet to respond to the charges.
"We are currently waiting for the ruling of the federal judge in Puerto Rico," she said, adding that it might be possible to seize North Korean funds held at U.S. banks if the verdict comes out in the claimants' favor
Once again, the memories come back to haunt my family as the images of Kozo Akomoto the world wide infamous terrorist glorify newspapers worldwide.
This time it's due to a new legal case against the government of North Korea regarding her side in the case. Here's more from Haaretz/Herald Tribune Sun., February 14, 2010 Shvat 30, 5770 :
Israeli legal group sues North Korea over 1972 terror attack
By Zohar Blumenkrantz
An Israeli human rights organization is filing a lawsuit against North Korea over a 1972 terrorist attack at Ben-Gurion International Airport that left more than 20 people dead and over 50 wounded, Haaretz has learned.
The attack, known as the Lod Airport massacre, was carried out by three members of the Japanese Red Army on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The victims included 16 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Advertisement
Rico, and Israeli professor and biophysicist Aharon Katzir. Advertisement
While two of the terrorists were killed over the course of the attack - one of them committing suicide - the third, Kozo Okamoto, was captured and sentenced to life in prison.
Okamoto was subsequently released from Israeli prison 13 years later, in 1985, as part of the Jibril prisoner exchange deal - one of the 1,150 security prisoners released in exchange for three Israelis captured during the first Lebanon war.
The lawsuit against North Korea stems from claims it sponsored the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army, providing material support to both organizations and assistance in planning the attack. The three terrorists arrived on an Air France flight from Paris and drew automatic guns and hand grenades, firing randomly at anybody in sight once their luggage came through the baggage claim.
"This attack was for Israelis what the September 11th attacks were for Americans," Ze'ev Sarig, the former manager of Lod Airport, explained in his testimony before a judge in Puerto Rico. "The attack changed how we viewed security at the airport and in Israeli civil aviation."
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, filed the $30 million lawsuit at a U.S. federal court in Puerto Rico on behalf of 12 of the victims' families.
Preliminary hearings to examine evidence began in Puerto Rico on December 2, 2009. Israeli experts - including Sarig and various experts on terrorism - were flown in to testify at the hearings. The claims were then translated and transferred to North Korean authorities which, according to Darshan-Leitner, have yet to respond to the charges.
"We are currently waiting for the ruling of the federal judge in Puerto Rico," she said, adding that it might be possible to seize North Korean funds held at U.S. banks if the verdict comes out in the claimants' favor
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Praying In Her Own Voice
NEW YORK TIMES: WOMEN OF THE WALL ARTICLE
Today a huge article about the women of the wall in the NY TIMES. Amazing. Powerful. Too bad they didn't mention our film about the subject matter.
Jerusalem Journal
Challenging Traditions at the Heart of Judaism
JERUSALEM — A struggle for the character of the Western Wall, this city’s iconic Jewish holy site and central place of worship, is under way, and it is being fought with prayer shawls and Torah scrolls.
On Friday, sheets of rain obscured the Old City’s ancient domes. But by 7 a.m. about 150 Jewish women had gathered at the Western Wall to pray and to challenge the constraints imposed on them by traditional Jewish Orthodoxy and a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Under their coats many of the women, supporters of a group of religious activists called Women of the Wall, wore a tallit, or fringed prayer shawl, a ritual garment traditionally worn only by men. Some wore their prayer shawls openly, an illegal act in this particular setting that can incur a fine or several months in jail.
Last month Nofrat Frenkel, 28, an Israeli medical student and a committed follower of Conservative Judaism, a modern, egalitarian strain, was the first woman in Israel to be arrested during prayers at the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, for publicly wrapping herself in a tallit.
The police accused her of acting provocatively and in a way that upset public order. Ms. Frenkel said the investigation was still under way.
The Women of the Wall, who meet for prayers at the Kotel at the start of every Hebrew month, are at the vanguard of a feminist struggle in Orthodox Judaism and other more contemporary strains to adapt time-honored religious practice for the modern age. They came in droves on Friday, the first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, to express their outrage over Ms. Frenkel’s case.
Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, which was founded in 1988, said she had never seen so many turn up in the month of Tevet.
“We are pushing the envelope. History is made of moments like this,” she said.
The group’s activities present a head-on challenge to the religious establishment, which is dominated in Israel by Orthodox rabbis who interpret and apply the rules of religious law in their strictest form.
The Kotel is defined in Israel as a national and holy site that is open to all. In practice, the women say, it operates like an Orthodox synagogue, with separate prayer sections for men and women and a modesty patrol to ensure that visitors are appropriately dressed.
Traditional Orthodox women pray individually, and quietly, by the Kotel’s massive beige stones, a remnant of the retaining wall of the mount revered by Jews as the site where their ancient temples once stood. Al Aksa mosque now sits on the top of the mount.
Critics of the Women of the Wall say that their practices — like holding organized prayers, singing out loud, carrying a Torah scroll and wearing prayer shawls — offend the more traditional worshipers at the site.
Twenty years ago, having suffered verbal and physical abuse as they prayed, the Women of the Wall petitioned the Supreme Court to have their right to religious freedom recognized, on grounds that the Kotel does not belong to the Orthodox establishment alone.
After a lengthy legal battle, the court ultimately ruled against the women in the interest of public order. Consequently, it is illegal for them to read aloud from the Torah or to wear prayer shawls openly by the wall. Instead, the authorities have allocated them a special area where they can conduct services in their own fashion, in an archaeological garden tucked around a corner, out of sight.
“These women come here like a persecuted group,” said David Barhoum, a criminal lawyer there on behalf of the Women of the Wall. If anything, he said on Friday, the criminal behavior seemed to be coming from the other side.
Across a partition, in the men’s section of the Kotel, a group of ultra-Orthodox men gathered to harass the women as they sang and prayed. The men shouted “Gevalt!” — expressing their revulsion in Yiddish — and called the women’s prayer an abomination. One or two threw objects and spat at them. In the women’s section, some Orthodox female worshipers joined in the insults.
Jewish religious law is open to interpretation. The Women of the Wall argue that even according to some Orthodox opinions, they are doing nothing wrong.
“Women are exempt from carrying out certain commandments, but not forbidden,” said Ms. Frenkel, who kept her prayer shawl hidden beneath her jacket by the Kotel this time around.
But the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, said “there is no value to prayer that creates controversy and offends other female worshipers” at the site.
The dispute is not about interpretations of religious law, he added, but about the sanctity and the accepted custom of the place. “On Friday the heavens wept,” he said.
Others saw the rain as a blessing in this parched land. The downpour was “so fitting,” said Simonne Horwitz, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan in western Canada, who said she had flown in especially for the event.
By and large, the inclement weather was on the side of the police who were sent to uphold the law and keep the peace.
There had been a plan for the women concealing their prayer shawls to open their coats, but Ms. Hoffman said most did not want to because of the storm.
Plans to take out a Torah scroll at the Kotel, and perhaps to read from it, were also aborted for fear the parchment would be damaged by the rain. Even so, one of the scrolls ended up with water stains.
Whether or not it was an act of divine intervention, the deluge allowed everyone to claim victory — the drenched women, their detractors and the police. The women were obviously wearing prayer shawls at the wall, but no arrests were made.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 22, 2009, on page A8 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/world/middleeast/22jerusalem.html
NEW YORK TIMES: WOMEN OF THE WALL ARTICLE
Today a huge article about the women of the wall in the NY TIMES. Amazing. Powerful. Too bad they didn't mention our film about the subject matter.
Jerusalem Journal
Challenging Traditions at the Heart of Judaism
JERUSALEM — A struggle for the character of the Western Wall, this city’s iconic Jewish holy site and central place of worship, is under way, and it is being fought with prayer shawls and Torah scrolls.
On Friday, sheets of rain obscured the Old City’s ancient domes. But by 7 a.m. about 150 Jewish women had gathered at the Western Wall to pray and to challenge the constraints imposed on them by traditional Jewish Orthodoxy and a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Under their coats many of the women, supporters of a group of religious activists called Women of the Wall, wore a tallit, or fringed prayer shawl, a ritual garment traditionally worn only by men. Some wore their prayer shawls openly, an illegal act in this particular setting that can incur a fine or several months in jail.
Last month Nofrat Frenkel, 28, an Israeli medical student and a committed follower of Conservative Judaism, a modern, egalitarian strain, was the first woman in Israel to be arrested during prayers at the Western Wall, also known as the Kotel, for publicly wrapping herself in a tallit.
The police accused her of acting provocatively and in a way that upset public order. Ms. Frenkel said the investigation was still under way.
The Women of the Wall, who meet for prayers at the Kotel at the start of every Hebrew month, are at the vanguard of a feminist struggle in Orthodox Judaism and other more contemporary strains to adapt time-honored religious practice for the modern age. They came in droves on Friday, the first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, to express their outrage over Ms. Frenkel’s case.
Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, which was founded in 1988, said she had never seen so many turn up in the month of Tevet.
“We are pushing the envelope. History is made of moments like this,” she said.
The group’s activities present a head-on challenge to the religious establishment, which is dominated in Israel by Orthodox rabbis who interpret and apply the rules of religious law in their strictest form.
The Kotel is defined in Israel as a national and holy site that is open to all. In practice, the women say, it operates like an Orthodox synagogue, with separate prayer sections for men and women and a modesty patrol to ensure that visitors are appropriately dressed.
Traditional Orthodox women pray individually, and quietly, by the Kotel’s massive beige stones, a remnant of the retaining wall of the mount revered by Jews as the site where their ancient temples once stood. Al Aksa mosque now sits on the top of the mount.
Critics of the Women of the Wall say that their practices — like holding organized prayers, singing out loud, carrying a Torah scroll and wearing prayer shawls — offend the more traditional worshipers at the site.
Twenty years ago, having suffered verbal and physical abuse as they prayed, the Women of the Wall petitioned the Supreme Court to have their right to religious freedom recognized, on grounds that the Kotel does not belong to the Orthodox establishment alone.
After a lengthy legal battle, the court ultimately ruled against the women in the interest of public order. Consequently, it is illegal for them to read aloud from the Torah or to wear prayer shawls openly by the wall. Instead, the authorities have allocated them a special area where they can conduct services in their own fashion, in an archaeological garden tucked around a corner, out of sight.
“These women come here like a persecuted group,” said David Barhoum, a criminal lawyer there on behalf of the Women of the Wall. If anything, he said on Friday, the criminal behavior seemed to be coming from the other side.
Across a partition, in the men’s section of the Kotel, a group of ultra-Orthodox men gathered to harass the women as they sang and prayed. The men shouted “Gevalt!” — expressing their revulsion in Yiddish — and called the women’s prayer an abomination. One or two threw objects and spat at them. In the women’s section, some Orthodox female worshipers joined in the insults.
Jewish religious law is open to interpretation. The Women of the Wall argue that even according to some Orthodox opinions, they are doing nothing wrong.
“Women are exempt from carrying out certain commandments, but not forbidden,” said Ms. Frenkel, who kept her prayer shawl hidden beneath her jacket by the Kotel this time around.
But the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, said “there is no value to prayer that creates controversy and offends other female worshipers” at the site.
The dispute is not about interpretations of religious law, he added, but about the sanctity and the accepted custom of the place. “On Friday the heavens wept,” he said.
Others saw the rain as a blessing in this parched land. The downpour was “so fitting,” said Simonne Horwitz, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan in western Canada, who said she had flown in especially for the event.
By and large, the inclement weather was on the side of the police who were sent to uphold the law and keep the peace.
There had been a plan for the women concealing their prayer shawls to open their coats, but Ms. Hoffman said most did not want to because of the storm.
Plans to take out a Torah scroll at the Kotel, and perhaps to read from it, were also aborted for fear the parchment would be damaged by the rain. Even so, one of the scrolls ended up with water stains.
Whether or not it was an act of divine intervention, the deluge allowed everyone to claim victory — the drenched women, their detractors and the police. The women were obviously wearing prayer shawls at the wall, but no arrests were made.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 22, 2009, on page A8 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/world/middleeast/22jerusalem.html
Thursday, December 10, 2009
PRAYING IN HER OWN VOICE
A film I produced that my mother directed is finally getting some buzz.
Unfortunately it's because a woman was arrested next to the wailing wall for wearing a prayer shawl and opening up a Torah.
Sorry guys, I don't get it. This is the twenty first century, right?
A woman being arrested for offending a wall because of a prayer shawl?
Was the wall offended cause the woman wore a prayer shawl or because she wanted to read from the holiest of books?
A woman was arrested for being too religious and wanting to pray in the confined woman's section where no man is allowed into?
That is a crime in twenty first century Israel?
Below is a mention of the film and the case in Lilith Blog.
It's sad. Very sad that things like that can happen in the twenty first century.
But it also proved how important my mother's film is in spreading the word about the importance to fight for female equality also in the religious world.
Happy Hannukah everyone and hopefully the children of light will win over the warriors of darkness.
Love
Dan
From Lilith:
Responding to Absurdity
In the aftermath of Nofrat Frenkel’s arrest at the Western Wall (her crime? wearing a tallit), Lilith has heard from a lot from all of you, asking what you can do. So when this letter from Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson (of the Women’s Rabbinic Network) arrived, it was clear it needed to be passed on. This is a great way to take a stand.
Dear Friends,
The arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for wearing a tallit at the kotel on Rosh Hodesh Kislev compels us to raise our voices and engage our communities in joint action. We invite you to join in a community-wide Day of Solidarity and Support for Women of the Wall (WOW), to take place on Rosh Hodesh Tevet, Thursday December 17th, the sixth day of Chanukah. With this national grassroots initiative, we will express our support for the rights of the Women of the Wall to assemble at the Kotel and to pray there with dignity, in safety and in shared community.
As with many other women’s grass roots efforts, each community, organization and institution shall develop its own program of prayer or study and shall reach out as widely as possible to its constituencies. For some groups, this day of solidarity and support will be in the manner of WOW, including tefillah and the reading of the Torah. For others, the program may be a “lunch and learn” text study session; or a women’s Chanukah observance. For yet others, it might be a gathering of three or more friends in a living room or office who will dedicate their joint prayer and/or study to the Women of the Wall. Some communities may want to add to their programs a screening of Yael Katzir’s film, Praying in Her Own Voice. We ask that you convene a program that shows your support for this initiative.
Please share your plans and document your activities by sending an email to jackie.ellenson@gmail.com. We also ask that you send a photo of your gathering to Judith Sherman Asher, judithrafaela@mac.com, who is a member of Women of the Wall in Israel. Please caption the photo with the names of the participants, the date, location of, and information about your program. Feel free to add a short message of support for Women of the Wall. This will greatly strengthen the morale of our sisters in Israel.
We hope you will join in a groundswell of support of American women for the Women of the Wall. We encourage you to send this letter to any other women’s groups who might want to participate. As Rosh Hodesh Tevet takes place during the week of Chanukah, the holiday of religious freedom, what better time to affirm the right of women to raise their voices in prayer at the Wall!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson
Director, Women’s Rabbinic Network
Jackie.ellenson@gmail.com
Rivka Haut
Women’s Tefillah Network
Taken from :
rivkahaut@yahoo.com
A film I produced that my mother directed is finally getting some buzz.
Unfortunately it's because a woman was arrested next to the wailing wall for wearing a prayer shawl and opening up a Torah.
Sorry guys, I don't get it. This is the twenty first century, right?
A woman being arrested for offending a wall because of a prayer shawl?
Was the wall offended cause the woman wore a prayer shawl or because she wanted to read from the holiest of books?
A woman was arrested for being too religious and wanting to pray in the confined woman's section where no man is allowed into?
That is a crime in twenty first century Israel?
Below is a mention of the film and the case in Lilith Blog.
It's sad. Very sad that things like that can happen in the twenty first century.
But it also proved how important my mother's film is in spreading the word about the importance to fight for female equality also in the religious world.
Happy Hannukah everyone and hopefully the children of light will win over the warriors of darkness.
Love
Dan
From Lilith:
Responding to Absurdity
In the aftermath of Nofrat Frenkel’s arrest at the Western Wall (her crime? wearing a tallit), Lilith has heard from a lot from all of you, asking what you can do. So when this letter from Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson (of the Women’s Rabbinic Network) arrived, it was clear it needed to be passed on. This is a great way to take a stand.
Dear Friends,
The arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for wearing a tallit at the kotel on Rosh Hodesh Kislev compels us to raise our voices and engage our communities in joint action. We invite you to join in a community-wide Day of Solidarity and Support for Women of the Wall (WOW), to take place on Rosh Hodesh Tevet, Thursday December 17th, the sixth day of Chanukah. With this national grassroots initiative, we will express our support for the rights of the Women of the Wall to assemble at the Kotel and to pray there with dignity, in safety and in shared community.
As with many other women’s grass roots efforts, each community, organization and institution shall develop its own program of prayer or study and shall reach out as widely as possible to its constituencies. For some groups, this day of solidarity and support will be in the manner of WOW, including tefillah and the reading of the Torah. For others, the program may be a “lunch and learn” text study session; or a women’s Chanukah observance. For yet others, it might be a gathering of three or more friends in a living room or office who will dedicate their joint prayer and/or study to the Women of the Wall. Some communities may want to add to their programs a screening of Yael Katzir’s film, Praying in Her Own Voice. We ask that you convene a program that shows your support for this initiative.
Please share your plans and document your activities by sending an email to jackie.ellenson@gmail.com. We also ask that you send a photo of your gathering to Judith Sherman Asher, judithrafaela@mac.com, who is a member of Women of the Wall in Israel. Please caption the photo with the names of the participants, the date, location of, and information about your program. Feel free to add a short message of support for Women of the Wall. This will greatly strengthen the morale of our sisters in Israel.
We hope you will join in a groundswell of support of American women for the Women of the Wall. We encourage you to send this letter to any other women’s groups who might want to participate. As Rosh Hodesh Tevet takes place during the week of Chanukah, the holiday of religious freedom, what better time to affirm the right of women to raise their voices in prayer at the Wall!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson
Director, Women’s Rabbinic Network
Jackie.ellenson@gmail.com
Rivka Haut
Women’s Tefillah Network
Taken from :
rivkahaut@yahoo.com
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