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 Over 25,000 Gather at Western Wall To Pray for Kidnapped Teens
Thousands gathered at the Western Wall to pray for the safe return of three teens kidnapped in the West Bank. More than 25,000 people attended the Sunday evening service led by Chief Rabbi David Lau. Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef also was at the service, as were members of the Chief Rabbinate council and Knesset members….
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Fast Forward 14th-Century Hall Unearthed Beneath Kotel in Jerusalem
A grand hall from the early 14th century was fully excavated in the Western Wall tunnels. Excavated for more than four years under the supervision of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the hall was inaugurated Sunday by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The hall, located underground adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza — including beneath the…
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Fast Forward Pope Francis Leaves ‘Lord’s Prayer’ at Western Wall
Pope Francis wrote the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish on a note he left in the Western Wall. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation released the contents of the note placed between the stones of the Kotel during the pope’s visit on Monday. The note, signed “Francis,” was written on papal letterhead. The Lord’s Prayer, also known…
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The Schmooze Justin Timberlake Prays at Western Wall
Justin Timberlake landed in Israel and went straight to the Western Wall a day before his scheduled Tel Aviv concert. Timberlake avoided most of the paparazzi, landing at 3 a.m. on Tuesday and heading straight to the wall with his wife, actress Jessica Biel, and his parents. He posted a photo of himself at the…
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Opinion Anat Hoffman’s Daughter Puts Women of the Wall to Film
Tanya Hoffman is the daughter of Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman. / Haaretz “How I Stopped Hating Women of the Wall and Started Talking to My Mother.” That’s the title of an upcoming film by Tanya Hoffman, the 26-year-old daughter of firebrand feminist and Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman. The summer…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Is Cleaned of Notes Before Passover Starts
The Western Wall was cleared of notes in advance of Passover. Workers used sticks Sunday to remove the hundreds of thousands of prayers and requests written on slips of paper that worshippers stuff into the cracks between the wall’s stones. The papers will be buried out of respect for their contents. The Western Wall also…
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Fast Forward Robinson’s Arch Handover to Right Wing ‘Judiazer’ Group Blocked by Cabinet
Israeli Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit intends to block a draft agreement that would transfer control of parts of the Western Wall to a right-wing Israeli nonprofit. Mandelblit’s decision to oppose the tentative deal comes shortly after a group of Reform and Conservative rabbis sent him a letter strongly protesting the transfer of control. Under the…
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Fast Forward Robinson’s Arch Deal Angers Reform and Conservative Leaders
Leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements expressed concern over reports that the Israeli government agreed to put a right-wing organization in charge of the Robinson’s Arch area of the Western Wall. In a letter sent Thursday to Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit, who is working on a government plan to make the area an egalitarian…
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