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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Fast Forward WATCH: Western Wall Bat Mitzvah Interrupted By Orthodox Protest
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…
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Fast Forward WATCH: Right-Wing Orthodox Group Accuses Women Of The Wall Of ‘Debasement’
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…
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Opinion Our Cherished Wall in Jerusalem Increasingly Divides Us
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…
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Fast Forward Women Bring Torah Scroll to Western Wall Prayer Service
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Original Women of the Wall group held a prayer service in the women’s section of the Western Wall that included a Torah scroll. It was the first time that women have succeeded in bringing in and reading from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall since an interim Supreme Court ruling said…
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Israel News Jerusalem Officials Remove Sign to Egalitarian Plaza at Western Wall
Men and women who want to pray together at one of the holiest sites in Judaism could have trouble finding the one spot where that is allowed, now that Jerusalem officials removed a sign marking a small egalitarian platform south of the traditional Western Wall. The East Jerusalem Development Authority took down a sign for…
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Fast Forward Natan Sharansky Slams Bill Banning Non-Orthodox Prayer at Western Wall
JERUSALEM — Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky slammed a Knesset bill that would prevent non-Orthodox public prayer at the Western Wall. Sharansky, who led the negotiations on the egalitarian measure along with outgoing Cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit, slammed the new proposal, said the measure would torpedo the agreement in January for an egalitarian prayer section at…
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Fast Forward Benjamin Netanyahu Says Western Wall Prayer Deal ‘Going To Take Time’
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed coalition politics for the delay in implementing a deal reached earlier this year to create a designated prayer section for non-Orthodox worshipers at the Western Wall. “Anti-Semitism is a fringe element in the United States,whether on the right or the left,” said Netanyahu. “I don’t think it…
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Opinion The ‘Real’ Benjamin Netanyahu Shows Brusque Side — and Steps on His Own Message
Jerusalem — Those who know Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu far better than I do said that the real Bibi was on display as he addressed the International Jewish Media Summit in Jerusalem Tuesday night. In that case, Netanyahu — the only Israeli elected prime minister three times in a row, the man who says…
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