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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The Schmooze No Kotel Bat Mitzvah for Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul canceled her much-hyped bat mitzvah at the Western Wall, opting instead for a low-key ceremony in the town of Safed, The Times of Israel reports. Per Israel’s Tourism Industry, which hosted the former “American Idol” and “The X-Factor” judge, the switch was due to jet lag. But the officiating rabbi, Eyal Riess of…
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Fast Forward 800 Gather for Women of Wall’s 25th Anniversary at Kotel
In a display of the changes the group has experienced this year, Women of the Wall held a peaceful prayer service under police protection at the Western Wall to mark the group’s 25th anniversary. Absent from Monday’s service, which the group said drew at least 800 worshippers, were large crowds of Orthodox girls who –…
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Fast Forward Women of Wall Make 16-Point Demand To Move Prayer to New Kotel Area
Women of the Wall presented the conditions under which the group would move its monthly prayer service to a third, egalitarian section of the Western Wall’s plaza. The 16 conditions – which the group’s leadership presented Monday ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – pertain to the section’s size, appearance, management,…
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News Women of Wall Deeply Split Over Anat Hoffman’s Acceptance of Prayer Deal
A dark cloud hangs over Women of the Wall’s 25th anniversary celebrations slated for November 4, as the movement stands on the verge of a major split. More than 100 supporters from North America, who are taking part in a special anniversary trip, will join WOW’s Israeli members at a monthly prayer meeting at the…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Rabbi Warns Ultra-Orthodox To Stay Away During Women’s Prayer Protest
The Western Wall rabbi requested that haredi Orthodox girls not fill the plaza for the next Women of the Wall service. Aiming to reduce tension at the plaza, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz made the request on Thursday, one day before the monthly Rosh Chodesh service by the group. Rabinowitz said in a statement that the mass…
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Fast Forward 80,000 Men Gather at Kotel for Priestly Blessing
Some eighty thousand men gathered at the Western Well for the holiday priestly blessing. Some 100 kohanim blessed the men gathered for morning prayers on Sunday, according to a statement issued by the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall. Among those in attendance at the prayer service were the chief rabbis of Israel,…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Rabbi Condemns Muslims for Riot on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
The rabbi of the Western Wall called on the world to condemn riots by Muslims on the Temple Mount during Rosh Hashanah. Palestinians threw rocks at police and at Jewish worshipers on Friday on the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews, following Muslim prayer services at the Al-Aksa Mosque there, as well as at…
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Fast Forward Western Wall Prayer Platform Slammed by Jordan
A Jordanian government minister condemned Israel’s construction of a new prayer space south of the existing Western Wall Plaza. Jordan’s State Minister for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani on Monday called the construction of a platform in the area for egalitarian prayer “a blatant attack on the Muslim monuments and Wakf land which is an integral…
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