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 Ultra-Orthodox Lawmaker To Block Funding for Western Wall Expansion
TEL AVIV — The chair of the Knesset Finance Committee intends to block funding for a plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer section of the Western Wall, a source familiar with the plan told JTA. Moshe Gafni of the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism party intends to use his committee post to deny the approximately…
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Fast Forward Israel Cabinet Plans Vote on Western Wall Egalitarian Prayer Plan
TEL AVIV — Israel’s Cabinet is expected to vote Sunday on a proposal that would expand the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall. The details of the proposal have not been released, but negotiations over expanding the non-Orthodox site — a segment of the wall called Robinson’s Arch, south of the traditional prayer site —…
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Fast Forward Women of the Wall Slams Bibi Over Reports of No Change at Western Wall
The Women of the Wall group vowed to continue reading from the Torah in the women’s section of the Kotel in the wake of a report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised haredi Orthodox parties that it still would not be allowed. Army Radio reported Tuesday that Netanyahu met last week with the haredi parties…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Museum Plan Gets Green Light
A Jerusalem planning board has granted final approval for a museum and educational center near the Western Wall and now opponents may petition Israel’s High Court to block construction before it starts. The facility, reports Haaretz, will encompass an area of about 16,000 square feet above ground and also have “an archaeological floor and an…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Rabbi Ordered To Include Women In Hanukkah Candle-Lighting
The Attorney General’s Office in Israel has ordered the rabbi of the Western Wall to include women in the annual national candle-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah. “Preventing women from participating in national ceremonies is wrongful discrimination and we request that you ensure this fact is not taken for granted and that steps are being taken to…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Rabbi Slams UNESCO for ‘Muslim’ Vote on Holy Sites
The rabbi of the Western Wall criticized UNESCO for recognizing Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Muslim sites. In an open letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said the decision “cannot be explained by any historical, archeological, or cultural measure.” “Centuries of documented history prove…
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News Will Jerusalem Violence Kill Egalitarian Prayer Plan for Western Wall?
The proposed egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, which was meant to serve non-Orthodox Jews worldwide, looks like the latest casualty of the terror wave hitting Israel. Progress on the initiative – supported both by the Israeli government and Jewish organizations – had been slow in coming, even before tensions over Jerusalem’s holy sites…
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Fast Forward UNESCO Chief Slams Plan To Name Western Wall ‘Muslim’ Site
The head of the United Nations cultural agency said she “deplores” a proposal under discussion by the agency’s executive board that would declare the Western Wall a Muslim holy site. Irina Bokova, the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, called on the board to “take decisions that do not…
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