On the morning of March 28, the first day of the Jewish month of Nisan, the Women of the Wall will once again gather at the Western Wall for a women-led Rosh Chodesh (new month) service. Once there, the women will likely face an charedi Jewish mob intent on suppressing, or at the very least…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told American Reform leaders at a private meeting that he is committed to the deal to create an egalitarian prayer space south of the traditional Western Wall Jewish holy site, Haaretz reported. Netanyahu promised the delegation headed by Union for Reform Judaism president Rick Jacobs that he would do everything possible…
For years, women in Israel have been fighting for the right to pray out loud at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, just like men. But now, a group of girls has risen up to defend the status quo. On Tuesday, February 28, at least 1,000 female high school students were bused there to protest…
Women are used to being silenced. Women are used to having their ideas belittled and their success made to seem unimportant. Today I went to the Kotel to join Women of the Wall — whose only goal was to make our voices heard—in prayer, at the holiest site in modern Judaism. I joined a service…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hundreds of haredi Orthodox men and women and religious Zionist female seminary students attempted to disrupt the monthly Rosh Chodesh morning service of the Women of the Wall group. About 150 women gathered in the women’s section of the Western Wall Plaza to celebrate the new Jewish month of Adar. Some of…
A Western Wall bat mitzvah on Monday morning was interrupted by whistling protesters who sought to disrupt the coming-of-age ceremony. Twelve-year-old Hod Hasharon native Noa Brenner celebrated her bat mitzvah at the monthly prayer service of Women of the Wall, a feminist group advocating for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall holy site. According to…
A right-wing Orthodox group announced a protest against Women of the Wall at the feminist group’s upcoming prayer service next week with a dramatic video calling on supporters to end the “debasement” of the Western Wall. Women of the Wall said that video “all but calls for violence against Women of the Wall,” in a…
I was in Jerusalem for a week last month, and I never once went to the Kotel. This was unusual for me. On my many prior stays in Israel, the ancient stones of the Western Wall were like a magnet, drawing me close and stripping away my journalistic skepticism, leaving me feeling a little more…
