"A selfish desire for equality": Israeli Police Arrest Woman For Wearing a Tallit and Reading From the Torah at the Western Wall

This shit makes me glad to have Birthright Virginia, not just Birthright Israel. From Haaretz:

"Police on Wednesday arrested a woman who was praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, due to the fact that she was wrapped in a prayer shawl (tallit).

The woman was visiting the site with the religious women's group "Women of the Wall" to take part in the monthly Rosh Hodesh prayer.

Police said they arrested the woman in the wake of a High Court ruling, which states that the public visiting the Western Wall is obligated to dress in accordance with the site's dress code."

According to Israel's conservative rabbis, the real problem here is that uppity women don't know their place.

"Last week Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Shas party's spiritual leader, said during his weekly sermon that the women in the feminist movement are "stupid" and act the way they do out of a selfish desire for equality, not "for heavens' sake."

Rabbi Ovadia also said about the groups' custom to pray at the Western Wall that "there are stupid women who come to the Western Wall, put on a tallit (prayer shawl), and pray," and added that they should be condemned."

Gee, aren't the Jews lucky to have their own state? I don't know about you, but as a woman who has more than once wrapped myself in a prayer shawl and read from the Torah in public, without getting even a little bit arrested for it, I sure am reassured to know that the Land of Israel is there to protect us Chosen People if the going should get rough.

Or maybe that's just my "selfish desire for equality" speaking.

hat tip: Goldblog.

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Update: Ocular Proof!

It must be true! Humorous computer graphics cannot lie!



Helpful sciencetastic diagram courtesy of Michael Drucker at 23/6

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Iranian Speechwriting: Making Magic Real

Uhh, Mahmoud? I know that you must be very excited about your newfound "World's Favorite Bonkers Bearded Agent O'Evil" status now that Castro has resigned.

But we still have standards. And when you referred to Israel as a "filthy bacteria," it just wasn't good enough. First of all: the proper singular form is "filthy bacterium."

And come on, really? Bacteria? What is this, National Awkward Cliche week? I can only assume that your speechwriting process goes something like this:

"Speechwriter 1: I'm really struggling with this next line. Israel is a .... It's on the tip of my tongue, but it's just not coming to me. Jerkface? Bepimpled smutmonster?

Speechwriter 2: We used bepimpled smutmonster last week. C'mon, be creative.

Speechwriter 1: Zionist pigdog?

Speechwriter 2: Used. It.

Speechwriter 1: Got it! "Israel is cooties!"

Speechwriter 2: OMG love it. But don't you think it needs a little extra something? He IS a professor, you know. Lets make it sciencey. Crowds love science!

Speechwriter 1: I'm thinking....bubbling beakers, Our Great Leader in a spotless white coat, maybe a Periodic Table of Zionist Atrocity. Lets call Bill Nye's people, see if he's available. I can see the headlines now: Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, savior of the Middle East, says that "Israel is an AMALGAM"

Speechwriter 2: You want to accuse Israel of being an alloy of metals?

Speechwriter 1: "Israel is a PRECIPITATE"

Speechwriter 2: it is a silty solid that forms spontaneously during a chemical reaction and separates out from the other materials? WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT PUTTING REALITY IN THE SPEECHES?

Speechwriter 1: Sorry. OMG Sorry! Please do not cut my ears off! Israel is...uh......a bad case of rheumatoid arthritis! a lipoma!

Speechwriter 2: Don't worry. Ears are largely decorative.

Speechwriter 1: Got it! Israel is a bacteria!

Speechwriter 2: Hmm. "Israel is a bacteria." Could work....call props to find out if the "Listerine of Allah" costume is available. Lets make this happen."

Look, Mahmoud, just a suggestion: maybe if you laid off the ear-chopping, you'd get better material.

I'm just saying.

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