Female piety and sacred space in Israel/Palestine: Jewish prayer at the Western Wall

This project involves an ethnographic investigation of the ongoing confrontations at the Western Wall in Jerusalem regarding Jewish women’s practices of worship. Through fieldwork and theoretical study, the aim is to examine contrasting spiritual practices and the processes by which religious and legal change is enacted. I hypothesize that prayer, for those engaged in this struggle, is a fundamental recognition of unpredictability and human vulnerability, and at the same time, it is a powerful method to assert different ideals of gendered behaviour and shape Israeli state policy.
The study will focus on a comparison between the practices of feminist and ultra-orthodox activists. The ethnographic method will allow me to identify the role of prayer in these women’s lives, how they express female religious identities, and how women’s worship and sacred space are viewed and managed by the Israeli government as well as religious and legal authorities.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Lambek

Student:

Partner:

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public Service, Policy, and Governance; Other

University:

University of Toronto

Program: