Israel Cabinet Plans Vote on Western Wall Egalitarian Prayer Plan

Image by Getty Images
TEL AVIV — Israel’s Cabinet is expected to vote Sunday on a proposal that would expand the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall.
The details of the proposal have not been released, but negotiations over expanding the non-Orthodox site — a segment of the wall called Robinson’s Arch, south of the traditional prayer site — have been taking place for approximately 2 1/2 years.
The talks include representatives of the Reform and Conservative movements, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Israeli government, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation — which runs the holy site — and Women of the Wall, a women’s group that holds monthly prayer services at the wall.
The issue rose in prominence in October 2012, when Women of the Wall Chairwoman Anat Hoffman was arrested for leading the group’s service and wearing a tallit at the wall. At the end of that year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky with finding a solution that would satisfy the site’s haredi Orthodox management as well as Women of the Wall.
In 2013, Sharansky drafted an outline for a plan wherein Robinson’s Arch would be expanded, and a shared entrance would 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 negotiations began based on that plan.
Soon after Sharansky introduced his outline, a Jerusalem district court ruled that Women of the Wall have the right to conduct prayers in the wall’s women’s section. In November 2013, Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett built a temporary platform that expanded the prayer space at 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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.