Rochester has Orthodox friends willing to eat in her home
and share Shabbat together with her.

But Rochester, who takes part in monthly Women
of the Wall ceremonies at the Kotel, says the biggest dif-
ferentiator between the Orthodox and the Conservative,
however, is the role of women in public Judaism and
the synagogue. While in Orthodox Judaism women
take a back step to men in religious life, “since my bat
mitzvah, I read from the Torah, lead services, put on a
tallit and tefillin,” she notes.

“But I feel like in my neighborhood we all get along.

We all respect each other and don’t check each other’s
tzitzit,” she says.

Rochester notes, also, that Women of the Wall was
founded as a minyan of women from different move-
ments coming together on common ground for Rosh
Chodesh. While it has become a major media focus,
and a point of divisiveness between Jews in the diaspora
in Israel, at its core, “You have Orthodox, Reform and
Conservative women all together — that is such a pow-
erful, beautiful thing.”
Oseran says he wishes he would see more leaders
taking a stance in the direction of unity.

“I am not optimistic from the top down,” he says,
but admits positive steps are percolating on a grass-
roots level.

“There are many Orthodox Jews who understand
there is more than one way to be Jewish and are pre-
“We all respect each other and don’t
check each other’s tzitzit.”
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32 THE GUIDE 2016/2017
pared to bridge some of the differences in order to be
stronger together,” adds Oseran, noting that Israelis
could learn a lot from the Jewish Federations of North
America movement, which is built on a sense of a col-
lective Jewish community in which any Jewish people
can fit and find their place.

“How do you create a building bridges mindset?”
Shaked asks. “Take the time to make yourself available
to talk to others. Be open to meeting people. … We all
have to take the plunge.”
She also recommends celebrating the successes of
others and volunteering in communities different than
your own.

Harkening back to the unity established by the Bloods
and Crips in the wake of the Baltimore riots in 2015,
Shaked says she read a study published more than 20
years ago by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that found
gang members cannot unify by simply learning about
one another through movies, being told positive messages
about one another, or even through dialogue. Rather,
they need to work together on a common project.

“I ask this Rosh Hashanah to join with all Israelis,
with friends of Israel, with the Jewish people everywhere
in wishing for a better future,” said Netanyahu in his
previous Rosh Hashanah address.

“I believe these friendships can be struck. I have
seen it and I live it,” Shaked said. ■