On Monday, 10 women — including Bloomfield Rabbi Debra S. Cantor — were arrested in Israel for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox Jews believe should be reserved solely for men, at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Read what else Mark Silk, of Religion News Service and Trinity College, has to say about his rabbi:
That would be Rabbi Debra Cantor, who presides over B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom in Bloomfield, Connecticut. She was participating in the monthly gathering of Women at the Wall (WOW), an organization dedicated to the proposition that adult Jewish women have the right to wear prayer shawls and read from the Torah (a liturgical practice traditionally reserved to adult Jewish men) at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Among the other women were Rabbi Susan Silverman, sister of comedian Sarah.
We stand with Rabbi Cantor, one of the wisest women I know, who has the strength and fortitude to live her faith, and her belief that God made men and women, and that God plays no favorites.
Rabbi Cantor posted on Facebook this morning that she is free. Rock on, Rabbi Cantor. You inspire me.
Yay, Bloomfield!
Jay Croft
Bloomfield High School, 1960