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 75,000 Gather at Western Wall for Priestly Blessing
More than 75,000 people gathered at the Western Wall for the Priestly Blessing ceremony. The worshippers converged on Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday for the blessing, called Birkat Kohanim in Hebrew, during the second intermediate day of Passover. The blessing also is held on Succot and Shavuot, the other of the Shalosh Regalim, or pilgrimage…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Cleaned for Passover
Workers at the Western Wall removed the notes placed in the cracks by worshippers in advance of Passover. The notes were removed Wednesday morning under the supervision of the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovich. They will be buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem. The Western Wall Institute also receives tens…
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Fast Forward Benjamin Netanyahu Takes Iran Campaign to Western Wall
Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu took his campaign against a nuclear deal with Iran to Jerusalem’s sacred Western Wall on Saturday, on the eve of his departure to Washington to address Congress on the issue. His rare pilgrimage to one of Judaism’s holiest sites was highly symbolic – and political – an apparent attempt by Netanyahu,…
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News Temple Mount Bathrooms Spark Feud With Muslims
The rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, condemned as “incitement” attempts by the Muslim Wakf to politicize the expansion of restrooms at the site. Muslim leaders at the Al-Aksa Mosque located on the Temple Mount say the expansion of the restrooms, located 55 yards from the Mughrabi Gate, is designed to desecrate Muslim…
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Life Transgender Woman Barred From Kotel — Both Sections
Kay Long poses on the Kotel plaza after being refused access to both women’s and men’s sections. (JTA) — A transgender woman was denied access to both the women’s and men’s sections of the Western Wall. Kay Long, who designs wedding dresses, evening gowns and costumes, on Monday visited the Western Wall with a friend…
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Fast Forward Sarah Silverman Joins Women of the Wall Hanukkah Candle-Lighting at Kotel
Security guards at the Western Wall entrance confiscated menorahs from several women, but dozens held a candle-lighting ceremony in the women’s section. The guards said they were acting on orders from Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbinic authority of the Western Wall and holy places, the Women of the Wall organization said Thursday night in a…
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Life The Bat Mitzvah Girl Who Made Kotel History
Bat mitzvah girl Sasha Lutt reads from a tiny Torah scroll smuggled into the Kotel / Haaretz I am sitting in front of my computer, talking via Skype with three women in Israel — Irina Lutt, her 12-year-old daughter Sasha, and Shira Pruce — who are kicking back after a day of school and work….
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News Women of Wall Slip Torah Scroll Into Western Wall Bat Mitzvah
(Haaretz) — Defying regulations by Western Wall rabbinic authorities, members of Women of the Wall smuggled a tiny Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Kotel Friday morning, in what the feminist prayer group said was the first reading from the Torah by women at the holy site in 25 years. The tiny scroll,…
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