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 Tzipi Livni Defends Women’s Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday night she would not support changes to the law governing the holy sites that he is promoting to limit the activities of Women of the Wall. Livni told Bennett that such amendments required the justice minister’s approval. The regulations Bennett is working on…
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Fast Forward Plan To Allow Women’s Prayer at Western Wall Threatens Archeological Treasures
The Jerusalem Archaeological Park and Davidson Center, located south of the Western Wall, is widely considered the most important archaeological site in the country − the site which perhaps best embodies the destruction of the Temple. Enormous stones that formed the upper tiers of this wall prior to the destruction lie on top of each…
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Fast Forward Half of Israelis Back Women of the Wall
More Israelis support Women of the Wall in their quest to win the right to pray at the Kotel, compared to those who don’t, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute shows. The poll, conducted among a representative sample of 600 Israelis ages 18 and above, found that 48 percent support the right of Women…
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Opinion Kotel Miracle: No Stone Throwers Killed by Cops
There must have been divine intervention at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, when no one was killed or injured by the volley of police fire that surely must have been unleashed at the rioters who threw stones at Jewish worshipers that morning. If memory serves, that is what the police do when people…
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Fast Forward The Day Women of Wall Gained Legitimacy in Jewish World
The Women of the Wall left the site feeling elated. Two human chains of policemen opened paths on the left and on the right, surrounded by an ocean of Haredi men and women. As they walked, the women, wrapped in prayer shawls, sang Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah, a song marking the Sivan Rosh…
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Opinion Kotel Ball Is in Tzipi Livni’s Court
Could Tzipi Livni be sweetening feminists before dropping a bombshell? As discussed earlier on Forward Thinking, Justice Minister Livni has just announced that she is working on legislation to criminalize the exclusion of women from the public sphere. The timing is interesting — just as she could find herself in a very awkward position on…
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Fast Forward Reform and Conservative Leaders Demand Probe Into Violence at Western Wall
The heads of the Reform and Conservative movements will demand that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein investigate the involvement of rabbis on the government payroll in Friday’s violent demonstrations at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators showed up at the Western Wall on Friday morning to protest against Women of the Wall, a…
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News Women and Orthodox Waver Over Plan for Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall
Two of the prime players who have been locked in struggle over how Jews should be allowed to pray at the Western Wall have a complicated relationship with the recent grand compromise that Jewish Agency leader Natan Sharansky has offered to solve their dispute. Both Anat Hoffman, whose group, Women of the Wall, seeks to…
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