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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Opinion Orthodoxy Is Not Victimized By The Kotel Compromise
In his Forward column titled “Kotel Controversy Shows That U.S. Jewish Groups Don’t Represent The Orthodox,” Avi Shafran claims that the American Orthodox community has been treated like “chopped liver” in recent debates over the Western Wall and conversion law in Israel. While I acknowledge American Orthodox voices have been missing in the news coverage…
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Community Support Religious Pluralism In Israel? First, Take A Stand For Pluralism At Home
For the first time in recent memory, the mainstream Jewish community is outraged at the Israeli government. After reaching an agreement with Women of the Wall and the Reform and Conservative movements to establish a new egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, the government reneged on its promise and suspended its plan. At the…
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Opinion The Kotel Crisis Might Be For The Best — It Will Reinvigorate Judaism
Maybe the Israeli government’s decision to kill the Western Wall agreement should be viewed not as a humiliating slap in the face, but as an opportunity to redefine our goals as non-Orthodox Jews. Liberal American Jews, like myself, felt so hurt and angry that the Israeli government reneged on its promise to create an egalitarian…
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Fast Forward These U.S. Jews Are Looking Beyond The Kotel – To Prayer On The Temple Mount
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Liberal American Jews are feeling thwarted in their years-long campaign for the right to pray as they wish at the Western Wall. Long frustrated that the plaza in front of the wall is run as an Orthodox synagogue, they were doubly incensed when Israel’s political establishment scrapped an agreement that would have boosted access to…
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Community Confused By Israeli Capitulation To The Ultra-Orthodox? You Must Not Understand Coalition Politics.
I’m appalled by the recent action taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse the cabinet decision to create an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall — but I don’t blame Bibi alone. The Israeli electoral system necessitates the inclusion of the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) to form any government. A more liberal leader would…
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Opinion Did Bibi Badly Miscalculate Liberal Rage Over Western Wall?
Benjamin Netanyahu has miscalculated. In the days since the Israeli prime minister reneged on a decision that would have allowed men and women to pray together at Jerusalem’s holy Western Wall, the outrage among American Jews is only getting worse. The carefully-crafted agreement, adopted by Netanyahu’s cabinet in January 2016 with input from Israeli and…
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Fast Forward Fed-Up Reform Leaders Are Thinking Twice About Their Donations To Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) — Daryl Messinger knows she’s going to visit Israel again. But the next time she flies there, it won’t be on El Al. Messinger, the chair of the Union for Reform Judaism, will be boycotting Israel’s national airline as part of her protest of the Israeli government’s two votes last week that…
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Fast Forward Britney Spears Mobbed At Western Wall Ahead Of Tel Aviv Concert
JERUSALEM (JTA) – American pop icon Britney Spears was mobbed by fans during a visit to the Western Wall. Spears arrived in Israel Sunday, ahead of her concert scheduled for Monday evening at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv. It is her first visit to Israel. Excited fans mobbed Spears, including jumping on her, during her…
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