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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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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Life Women of the Wall Rally Hits NYC in March
A prayer rally is being planned for Rosh Chodesh Nissan on March 12 to provide a way for Jews in New York to stand in solidarity with Women of the Wall, who will be praying at the Kotel that same morning. The rally, billed as “Wake up for Religious Tolerance: Rosh Hodesh Nissan Solidarity Minyan…
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Fast Forward Sarah Silverman’s Sister Says Western Wall ‘Hijacked’ by Orthodox Jews
The sister of American comedian Sarah Silverman, Reform Rabbi Susan Silverman, one of ten women detained on Monday for participating in prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, has told Haaretz that the group prayer at the site was not a provocation, and that she is opposed to Haredi “hijacking” of the sacred site on…
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Fast Forward Sarah Silverman’s Sister Among 10 Women Arrested in Western Wall Protest
Israeli police detained 10 women at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites on Monday for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City highlighted the divisions between the more liberal streams of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that…
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Fast Forward Can Natan Sharansky Settle Western Wall Feud?
He brought unprecedented attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. He stood up to the KGB. He survived nine years in Siberia. He served in Israel’s fractious government. Now, Natan Sharansky is facing his next challenge: finding a solution to the growing battle over women’s prayer restrictions at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. In…
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