Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Parties Aim To Block Egalitarian Section At Western Wall

The ultra-Orthodox parties in Israel’s governing coalition are pushing a resolution that will repeal the decision to create an egalitarian section at the Western Wall, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.

The move by Shas and United Torah Judaism would continue to allow egalitarian prayer at the Robinson’s Arch complex, but would not approve the creation of an an access point connecting it to the Kotel or of a management authority that included liberal Jewish leaders — two key demands from critics of the status quo.

The Israeli Cabinet voted last year to create an egalitarian prayer section, but the plan was frozen almost immediately due to backlash from Haredi leaders.

Women of the Wall, the leading Israeli group pushing for an egalitarian prayer section, criticized the news.

“Israel’s Prime Minister, who encouraged the various parties to reach an agreement, has yet to harness the courage to enforce it,” the group said in a statement.

Rachel Azaria, a member of Knesset from the centrist party Kulanu — which is also in the coalition — also had concerns.

“This is unbecoming, because such things should not be done to your brothers, and they are our brothers,” she told the Post, adding, “We must not lose U.S. Jewry, and this proposal is a threat to this support.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.