In a recent op-ed, I explained how slaves from Senegal introduced their Wolof word “Wow” into English. I recently discovered that WOW was also an acronym for over 100 organizations. I am choosing only two to mention in this op-ed: 1) “Women of the Wall” in Jerusalem and 2) the more recent “War on Women” supported by many MAGAcolytes in the USA. In both WoWs, the word ‘war’ does not mean traditional warfare but a political/economic/psychological/legal struggle.*

Israel’s Women of the Wall is a feminist organization of multiple Jewish denominations that have been struggling since 1998 to affirm their right to pray at the Western Wall without hindrance from the Orthodox Rabbinate about their presence as women and what they could not wear nor read nor sing. The legal battle between the Orthodox and the multi-denominational WoW lasted for many years until the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that women could pray at “Robinson’s Arch” an archaeological site in the vicinity of the Western Wall.

Today women have a legally regulated space for prayer at the Western Wall. This year (2025) International Women’s Day was during the same week as Purim**.  Esther was cited as having remained silent in the palace; but when she was needed to save her people, she confronts the king and saves her people.

In the present MAGA War on Women in the USA , most women are struggling to preserve rights gained over the past years and to regain rights lost. Moreover, WoW is resisting a ‘tsunami’ that seeks to destroy the equality, autonomy, safety, and essence of the dignity of women. Of course, other groups that have struggled, and are still doing so, for equality and dignity intersect with WoW’s issues and goals. A primary, but not the only example is the greater struggle of MAGA against our Black citizens, immigrants, and most people of low income.

History both repeats itself and rhymes. One of the oldest issues for millennia is how to deal with the rich getter richer and the poor become poorer, especially under autocratic rule and the abuse of power. We need to make the USA more just again! 

*Remember the “War on Poverty” which now is in the process of being lost?

**Purim is the Hebrew word for lottery. The book of Esther does not mention God.

Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the data for the above op-ed.