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 Holocaust Survivors Celebrate Bar Mitzvahs 70 Years Later — At Western Wall
More than 40 Holocaust survivors who were never able to celebrate their bar or bat mitzvahs finally did so last week — at the Western Wall. The event, coordinated by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and Israel’s Office for Social Equality, was welcomed by participants who never got…
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Community World Jewry Must Rise Above Its Own Inhibitions About ‘Interfering’ With Israeli Politics
I get the same sense of insolence from Israeli officials when the effects of the cancellation of the Kotel Agreement on World Jewry are discussed. “What will they do to us?” I was forced to spend 24 hours with a 5-year-old who isn’t family. I explained the rules of the house several times during his…
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Fast Forward Federations Demands Israel Reverse ‘Divisive’ Moves On Western Wall And Conversion
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America called on Israel to reverse its “divisive and damaging” steps to freeze an agreement on egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall and its support of a bill that would grant a monopoly to Orthodox authorities in Israel over conversions to Judaism. The JFNA’s board of…
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The Schmooze Will Smith Visited The Western Wall And Crashed A Bar Mitzvah
Art and life collided today when “Men In Black” star Will Smith visited Jerusalem, home of a very different kind of Men In Black, while filming Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” nearby in the Wadi Rum area in Jordan. You don’t see this too often! Actor and musician #WillSmith at the Western Wall (Kotel) in #Israel ??…
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Fast Forward Ancient Roman Theater Uncovered At Western Wall
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An ancient Roman theater and eight stone courses, or layers of cut stone, were uncovered in excavations in the Western Wall Tunnels in Jerusalem. The preserved archeological discoveries were unveiled to the media on Monday by the Israel Antiquities Authority, following work to remove an 8-meter layer of earth under Wilson’s Arch, the…
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Life Jerusalem On Yom Kippur: When The Fairytales Of Two Nations Collide
The streets of Jerusalem were deserted. The only remnants of life were the echoes of Jewish prayers nearby, solemn echoes heard on this day in this place for millennia. Those chants in minor key reverberated to me like the mourning of memories past. Was it regret I heard? Sadness? Duty? The prayers followed me along…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu Says Non-Orthodox Jews Using Western Wall For Leverage
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called out the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel for using their partnership in the Western Wall agreement as a clandestine way to gain recognition. Netanyahu told reporters in New York on Monday night that the Reform and Conservative movements wanted to get recognition “via the backdoor,…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu Says He Chose ‘Practical Path’ On Western Wall Prayer
Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu said when it comes to egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, he chose a practical approach over one that would touch on deep symbolism. Netanyahu met with a small group of Jewish representatives Sunday and sought to explain away his government’s decision to renege on an agreement setting a prayer section…
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