Women of the Wall gathered at the Kotel in May. Image by Getty Images

TEL AVIV — The chair of the Knesset Finance Committee intends to block funding for a plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer section of the Western Wall, a source familiar with the plan told JTA.

Moshe Gafni of the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism party intends to use his committee post to deny the approximately $10 million needed to fund the expansion, said the source, who requested anonymity. In response, the Prime Minister’s Office is seeking other sources of funding, including from the Jerusalem municipality, the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Gafni’s spokesman did not respond to several calls for comment.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Cabinet is expected to vote Sunday on the expansion plan. Haredi government ministers had planned to be absent for the vote to avoid supporting or opposing it.

The plan has been negotiated since 2013 by the government, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Reform and Conservative movements, the Western Wall’s haredi Orthodox management and Women of the Wall, a women’s prayer group that holds monthly services in the site’s women’s section.

In 2013, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky drafted an outline for a plan calling for Robinson’s Arch to be expanded, and a shared entrance to be built for the Orthodox and non-Orthodox sections of the wall. Women of the Wall would move their prayers from the women’s section of the traditional wall to Robinson’s Arch.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount