ambivalent, divided between a condemnation of feminism and an apologetic defense of the respected status of women in Judaism and arguing that“there is no reason to be angry.” In conclusion, R. Moshe exhorts the rabbi who has submitted the question to“prevent these women... from changing any sacred customs of Israel .”

No text and no precedent explicitly forbid women to pray in the company of other women, and that was an implicit permis­sion upon which Orthodox feminists seized. In contrast to non­traditional feminists, who demanded that discriminatory laws be changed or simply defied such rules in spite of the rabbis, Orthodox feminists pursued two different strategies: first, they took on certain observances that were in practice performed exclusively by men but from which women were exempted rather than explicitly barred and second, they made innovations in areas unaddressed by halakhah. The prayer group may be regarded as a union of these strategies.’ a

In the late 1970s, Orthodox women began to organize wor­ship communities that they called prayer groups rather than minyanim, to emphasize their compliance with the prohibition on devarim she-be- gedusha, in their liturgies.” By the mid-1980s, prayer groups dotted the East Coast as far north as Toronto and as far south as Baltimore . They were subsequently augmented by a few West Coast groups, and groups in England, Australia , and Israel . The ecumenical prayer group of Jerusalem , Women at the Wall, in which women from all branches of Judaism pray together omitting davar she-be-qedusha, takes much of its group culture from American prayer group worship. An umbrella organization, the Women's Tefillah Network, links the international web of prayer groups and distributes a newsletter.”

One of the organization's founders, Rivkeh Haut, describes the prayer group's distinctive ritual practices and ambiance in this way:

Halakhic women’s prayer groups enable Jewish women to com­memorate important events in their lives in a synagogue setting. Women receive aliyot in order to celebrate engagements, marriages, receiving degrees, buying homes, getting new jobs. Women are able to nurse their babies in shul. Bat Mitzvah girls are able to actively participate in the prayer service by reading the Torah , reciting the