At Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, the use of racial profiling is so controversial that it is the subject of a legal challenge by human rights advocates. But what about a different type of profiling — religious profiling — and of all places at the Western Wall? As we reported, the tables were turned at the…
The tables were well and truly turned at the Western Wall this morning, as the Israeli Police, which until this spring detained women holding communal prayers, executed a mass operation to protect them and facilitate their worship. Until April 25, the police treated the monthly gatherings by the feminist alliance Women of the Wall as…
Women of the Wall announced plans to read from a Torah scroll at its upcoming service at the Western Wall. Also leading up to Sunday’s service, several leading haredi Orthodox rabbis called on thousands of haredi men to gather for a mass prayer opposite Women of the Wall. Women of the Wall gathers at the…
The Jewish Federations of North America’s board of trustees passed a resolution supporting Natan Sharansky’s proposed compromise on egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. Monday’s resolution, according to a JFNA statement, says the compromise “develops a pathway whereby the Kotel will once again become a spiritual center for all Jews and a symbol of unity…
Jerusalem District Police are preparing for another round of confrontations at the Western Wall next Sunday, as tensions continue to escalate surrounding the Women of the Wall’s demand for equal worship at Judaism’s holiest site. Police were also on guard after threatening letters were sent to the Chief Rabbinate and to the rabbi in charge…
Nearly 20 years ago I was living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a haven for observant Conservative Jews. I had my choice of multiple minyanim to attend; even the crowded weekend city streets had an air of the Sabbath, and kosher food abounded. There were so many Conservative and egalitarian options that I rarely ventured…
I really must avoid spicy foods — even my wife’s scrumptious jalapeno pepper-laced cornbread — before retiring at night. The recipe’s great, but for someone approaching 60, it’s also a recipe for indigestion-fueled nightmares. The scene of my latest bad dream: the Kotel, or Western Wall, in Jerusalem. The time: some future point, may it…
Israel on Monday cancelled a visit by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to Jerusalem’s Old City, saying the Palestinians had sought to politicise a conservation mission. No one was immediately available for comment at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. A month ago, it announced it would send experts to Jerusalem in mid-May to…
