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 Natan Sharansky’s Historic Western Wall Compromise Still Faces Plenty of Obstacles
Natan Sharansky has presented what could be a historic proposal to add a space for egalitarian prayer to the Western Wall. Israeli religious pluralism activists, however, fear that the proposal will take years to implement and could face roadblocks that prevent it from coming to fruition. The proposal, first reported by the Forward, would expand…
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News Kotel Egalitarian Prayer Plan Set in Motion by Dramatic Western Wall Compromise
A dramatic offer to set up a new egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was met with a no less dramatic willingness to compromise on behalf of all the major religious leaders in the American Jewish community. In a rare show of consensus, activists on the liberal side of the Reform movement…
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Life Anger Over Kotel Kaddish Ban Leads to Reversal
Outcry from Jews in Israel and the Diaspora has led the rabbi in charge of policies at the Kotel to back down from his plan to have women arrested for saying Kaddish, says Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall. At a meeting Thursday with Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel,…
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Fast Forward Natan Sharansky Vows Women Won’t Be Charged for Kaddish at Western Wall
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky met Thursday with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, chairman of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, to express his shock at a letter sent by police warning that women would be arrested for reciting the Kaddish mourner’s prayer at the Western Wall. “The Kotel must continue to be a symbol of unity for…
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Life Crackdown Continues for Women at Western Wall
Add Kaddish to the list of Jewish prayers and ritual objects women are not allowed to be engaged with at the Western Wall, according to the commander of the Jerusalem police. In a March 14 letter to Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall, Yossi Pariente wrote that he met with a deputy attorney…
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Fast Forward 3 Knesset Members Join Protest at Western Wall
Three female Knesset members participated in a prayer service held by the Women of the Wall in the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. According to the legislators, their participation in the prayer service prevented the arrest of other women who came to worship. This marks the first time in many months in…
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Fast Forward Women of Wall Support Protests Planned Today
Supporters of the Women Of The Wall will gather in New York on Tuesday, March 12, supporting women’s right to pray freely at the Western Wall, or Kotel, in Jerusalem. The New York event, expected to be the largest, is organized by New York’s Wake Up for Religious Tolerance!, and will take place at 9…
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Life Smuggling Tallitot for Women at Western Wall
Recently, Amichai Lau-Lavie, founding director of Storahtelling and a second-year Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical student, published a blog post about illegally smuggling tallitot (prayer shawls) into the Western Wall for use by Women of the Wall on February 11, Rosh Hodesh Adar. “I broke the law by smuggling prayer shawls into the site of the…
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