This is the Forward’s coverage of the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem adjacent to the Temple Mount.
Western Wall
The Latest
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Israel News WATCH: Prayer Notes Removed From Western Wall For Passover
The Western Wall got a makeover this week when a cleaning crew removed thousands of tiny prayer notes from the cracks between the stones ahead of the Passover holiday. The cleaning occurs twice of year, after which the notes are gathered into sacks and buried on the Mount of Olives cemetery, an ancient Jewish burial…
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Community A Charedi Jew Explains: Why Do The Ultra-Orthodox Protest Women of the Wall?
Jewish law states that a court may not hear one side of an argument without the other party being present. If anyone should want to judge anything, they must listen to both sides of the argument, and only then can they find the truth. Many have written that the Charedi community ought to be ashamed…
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Community Violent Protestors — Not Women Of The Wall — Are Undermining Judaism
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…
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Fast Forward Women Of The Wall Demand Protection In Supreme Court Petition
The feminist prayer group Women of the Wall filed a petition with the Israeli High Court today to demand protection during its prayer services at the Western Wall holy site, the group said. Their petition was filed against the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which administers the site, and its head, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz. The petition…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu Commits To Ending Western Wall Impasse
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…
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Israel News These Orthodox Girls Are Rebelling — Against Women’s Prayer At The Western Wall
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…
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Fast Forward David Rubinger, Who Took Iconic Western Wall Photo, Dies At 92
David Rubinger, the Israeli photographer who snapped the iconic photograph of soldiers at the Western Wall in 1967, died on Thursday at the age of 92. The photograph has come to symbolize both the military and spiritual significance of Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. But Rubinger apparently…
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Community What Are The ‘Women Of The Wall’ Haters So Afraid Of?
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…
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