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
-
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…
-
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…
-
Fast Forward UNESCO Will Vote on Plan To Declare Western Wall a Muslim Site
A Palestinian effort to have a United Nations agency declare Judaism’s holiest site a Muslim holy site is “an attempt to distort history,” Israel said. UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural body, is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the proposal concerning the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In a statement Monday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the proposal “an…
-
Fast Forward Woman Detained for Taking Torah to Kotel
Israel Police officers detained a women’s rights activist at the Western Wall and confiscated her Torah scroll. Rachel Cohen Yeshurun, a Women of the Wall board member, was taken into police custody prior to a service Friday and released shortly afterwards, The Jerusalem Post reported. Women of the Wall runs gender egalitarian services at the…
-
Fast Forward Western Wall Rabbi Apologizes for Turning Away Woman in Kippah
The rabbi of the Western Wall apologized that a woman was turned away from the holy site for wearing a kippah, but said he was not familiar with the incident. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said in a statement issued Tuesday that if the incident did occur, the response was incorrect. Rabinovitch also said that the Israel…
-
Fast Forward Women of Wall Splinter Group Reads Torah Scroll at Kotel
For the second time in less than two months, a feminist prayer group has succeeded in bringing a Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Western Wall, in defiance of existing regulations at the Jewish holy site in Jerusalem. This morning, an organization known as Original Women of the Wall held a prayer service…
-
Fast Forward Police Lock Western Wall Barrier Over Torah Fears
A male supporter of Women of the Wall was arrested after trying to pass a Torah scroll to the women’s section of the Western Wall during prayers for the new Jewish month. The partitions separating the men’s and women’s sections were locked together and metal barriers placed alongside them on Tuesday morning to prevent the…
-
Opinion My Message to the Man Who Attacked Me at the Kotel
On a sunny morning last month, I was swept into the women’s section of the Western Wall in Jerusalem in a flurry of aggression directed at the Women of the Wall, the Israeli group fighting for women’s prayer at Jerusalem’s holiest site. (JTA) One of the group’s male supporters, Charlie Kalech, was strangled and thrown…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion New York’s Israel Day parade was a shanda — but not because of Mamdani
- 2
Opinion Mamdani has made ample efforts for Jews. How come no one is telling that story?
- 3
News Nearly half of young U.S. Jews want to replace Israel with binational state, poll finds
- 4
News Floyd Mayweather showered cash on Jewish causes — and now he’s suing their ‘Robin Hood’ alleging $175 million got diverted
In Case You Missed It
-
News National Council of Jewish Women ejects LA chapter, other affiliates cut ties amid historic reboot
-
Fast Forward Canada ‘is failing Jewish Canadians,’ prime minister says as he unveils effort to address antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Trump says Netanyahu ‘turned his Troops around’ after he asked Israel not to bomb Beirut
-
Fast Forward Smotrich’s surprise appearance at Israel Day Parade sparks backlash from NY and Jewish leaders