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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News Is Western Wall Prayer Platform Step Forward for Women — Or Back?
For more than a decade, Jews have been permitted to hold egalitarian prayer services at a southern section of the Western Wall that lies out of sight of Orthodox worshippers. But the area, known as Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, never became a government-supported prayer facility. Worshippers have always been guests of the…
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Fast Forward Naftali Bennett Appeals to Diaspora for Support on Western Wall Prayer Plan
Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett made an attempt to reconcile Diaspora Jews and released a letter to World Jewry ahead of the new Jewish year explaining his plan to resolve the ongoing dispute over the rights of non-Orthodox Jews, including women, to pray at the Western Wall according to their customs. According…
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Fast Forward 127 Rabbis Will Discuss Women’s Prayer at Western Wall for High Holidays
The struggle for women to pray as they see fit at the Western Wall will be the focus of High Holy Day sermons at congregations across the United States, as part of an organized campaign to galvanize support for greater religious tolerance in Israel. The campaign is being spearheaded by Jewish Voices Together, a New…
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Opinion ‘Feminists of Zion’ Scapegoat Orthodox Jews
A lengthy piece in the New Republic asserts — or, more accurately, hopes — that “an unlikely alliance between Orthodox and progressive women will save Israel from fundamentalism.” The latter word, of course, is intended to refer to traditional Orthodox Judaism. Heavy on anecdotes about Haredi crazies harassing sympathetic women, the piece, titled “The Feminists…
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Fast Forward Women of the Wall Reject New Western Wall Prayer Site as ‘Sunbathing Deck’
Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett hailed Sunday’s completion of a large platform for non-Orthodox prayer at the southernmost portion of the Western Wall as a history-making event. But the Women of the Wall, who have led the fight for non-Orthodox prayer at the Kotel, derided the new platform as “a sunbathing deck that overlooks the…
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Fast Forward Women of Wall Plan Selichot High Holy Days Services at Kotel
For the first time since its inception 25 years ago, Women of the Wall, the organization behind the battle to wrest control of Judaism’s holiest site from the Orthodox establishment, will hold a special prayer service at the Western Wall that is not connected to its regular monthly Rosh Chodesh gathering. The women’s prayer group…
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Fast Forward Natan Sharansky To Release Final Plan To Reform Prayer Western Wall
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky will release his full plan for a compromise among religious groups at the Western Wall in two weeks. Sharansky, according to Haaretz, aims to release the plan before the end of August. Upon announcing the release plans, he said that “if we have an agreement on a solution for the…
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Fast Forward Women Blow Shofar and Raise Torah Scroll at Western Wall Prayer Protest
Women of the Wall blew a shofar at the back of the Western Wall Plaza and raised a Torah scroll at the plaza’s gate as they completed their service under a heavy police barricade. Women of the Wall gathers at the beginning of each Jewish month for a women’s Rosh Chodesh prayer service at the…
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