Welcome to 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 73-Year-Old Jewish Woman Struck by Rock While Praying at Western Wall
JERUSALEM — A 73-year-old Jewish woman praying at the Western Wall was struck in the head by a rock thrown from the Temple Mount above by Palestinian rioters. The woman suffered a light head injury in the attack on Tuesday, the first such attack on worshippers at the Western Wall in several years. Tuesday was…
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Opinion What We Orthodox Jews Must Do To Save the Western Wall
On Thursday afternoon, around 500 men and women gathered in the Southern Plaza of the Western Wall — a stone piazza commonly used for swearing in soldiers or taking an iconic tourist selfie near Judaism’s holiest site — to hold a defiant afternoon prayer service in response to what they feel was a terrible display…
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Fast Forward Egalitarian Worshippers Scuffle With Ultra-Orthodox at Western Wall
JERUSALEM — Haredi Orthodox men fought with Conservative and Reform Jewish activists taking part in an egalitarian prayer service Thursday afternoon at the Western Wall Plaza. Police worked to separate the dozens of haredi men from the crowd of worshippers. The haredi men whistled and sang loudly to distract the service, and later became physical…
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Israel News Western Wall Prayer Deal Crumbling as Rivals Stage Dueling ‘Provocations’
The temporary takeover by Orthodox worshippers of the area at the Western Wall designated for non-Orthodox services combined with doubts about the Israeli government promise to sanction egalitarian prayer there has spurred non-Orthodox leaders to abandon the plan for a separate space and revert to their original demand: for their own section at the existing…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Hold Divided Service in Push To ‘Sabotage’ Western Wall Prayer Deal
In what is believed to be a first, Orthodox Jews temporarily took over the space at the Western Wall that has been designated for non-Orthodox prayer services. A — a physical divider separating men and women — was set up at the southern section of the Western Wall on Tuesday for a service led by Jerusalem Chief…
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Fast Forward Jerusalem Chief Rabbi: Western Wall Deal Will ‘Weaken’ City
Israel’s former Sephardic chief rabbi said that a landmark compromise establishing a mixed-gender prayer space at the Western Wall will “weaken Jerusalem.” Speaking on Sunday, Shlomo Amar, who is currently the Sephardic chief rabbi of Jerusalem, also referred to the liberal Jewish proponents of expanding non-Orthodox worship space at Judaism’s holiest site as “wicked,” the…
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Opinion 5 Things We Can Do About the Western Wall Impasse — and One We Shouldn’t
Now that the long-awaited plan to create a proper egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall has been put on hold, again, here are five actions that American Jewish leaders can take — and one course of action that they should not, under any circumstances, follow. Option 1: Lay low. This is the Israeli option….
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Israel News Benjamin Netanyahu Says He’ll Keep His Promise, Orders New Prayer Podium for Western Wall
The Israeli government will order a permanent bimah, the elevated platform on which a prayer leader stands, to be built in the southern section of the Western Wall holy site as a signal to American and Israeli non-Orthodox movements that it is serious about implementing its plan for an egalitarian prayer space there. The gesture…
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