Yesterday was worldwide wrap day. By wrap I mean wrapping/putting on tefilin.
Women of the Wall (an organization trying to get rights for women concerning religion) had a booth on Jaffa Street (a popular street on which the light rail runs) for women to put on tefilin.
All around Israel, year round, you will find booths set up by orthodox men, trying to get men to put on tefilin, but they never let women put on.
So, Alexandra and I bused to Jaffa street and helped out for an hour and a half.
A few women put on tallitot and tefilin, which is good, but most of the time people were just yelling at us (the people from Women of the Wall running the booth, Alexandra, and I) and how we shouldn’t be doing what we were doing. They said how women aren’t allowed to put on tefilin which is not true. It is never written that women are not allowed to put on tefilin, only that women are not obligated. Many people still see tefilin as a mitzvah that woman can partake in.
Although it is frustrating to be screamed at in the cold (it is very cold in Jerusalem now), I am glad that I helped out because I deeply agree with what Women of the Wall stands for.
P.S. If you want photos, I think there is a not-so-great photo of me on the Women of the Wall Facebook page
-Naomi