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
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Fast Forward The Top 10 Moments That Mattered To Jews In 5777
(JTA) — This Jewish year was not a quiet one, to say the least. From the tumultuous first eight months of Donald Trump’s presidency, to a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers, to a neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville that turned violent, to the twin weather catastrophes of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Jews, like…
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Fast Forward Israeli High Court: Gov. Must Reinstate Kotel Deal Or Explain Why It Won’t
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to either reinstate the Western Wall agreement with non-Orthodox groups or explain why it should not force the state to honor the deal. “One can’t help but ask ‘What exactly happened here?’” Chief Justice Miriam Naor said at a hearing Thursday. “There was an agreement,…
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Opinion I Was Forced To Lift My Skirt To Pray At The Kotel
It was Wednesday morning of finals week. The thought of waking up at 5:30 AM was not the most thrilling of thoughts; but, Rosh Chodesh aligns with the cycle of the moon, not with the cycle of my school year. I had committed to welcoming in Elul at the Kotel with my Hebrew Union College-Jewish…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu: Body Searches Of Women At Western Wall ‘Unacceptable’
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Body searches of female worshipers at the entrance to the Western Wall are “unacceptable,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Netanyahu asked Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan to look into accusations that at least four female rabbinical students were subject to body searches while attempting to enter the Western Wall Plaza,…
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Fast Forward Reform Leaders: Netanyahu Must Denounce Kotel Body Searches Of Female Rabbis
(JTA) — Leaders of the Reform movement in the United States called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “issue a swift and clear denunciation” of the demeaning body searches of four female rabbinic students at the Western Wall. The students from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, on Wednesday were asked to lift…
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Fast Forward Female Rabbinic Students ‘Strip Searched’ By Western Wall Security
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Four female students from Hebrew Union College, including two Americans, were asked to lift their shirts and skirts for security before being allowed to enter the Western Wall plaza. The women were part of a group of 15 rabbinical, cantorial and Jewish education students from North America and Australia who joined about…
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Fast Forward Israeli Chief Rabbinate: Supreme Court Lacks Jurisdiction Over Western Wall
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Chief Rabbinate said the country’s Supreme Court lacks the jurisdiction to rule on the “intrareligious” struggle involving egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. In a 166-page brief filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court, the Chief Rabbinate said in part, “The courts are not the appropriate tribunal to decide if Jewish law…
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Opinion This Tisha B’Av, I’ll Mourn For The Destruction Of Jewish Unity
When the Israeli government announced its decision last month to halt the construction and planning of a pluralistic prayer space near the Western Wall, the outcry from the Diaspora Jewish community was enormous. The proposed plan didn’t even offer a shared space at the Western Wall; it referred to an area further south by Robinson’s…
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