The teenager arrested on Rosh Chodesh Adar at the Western Wall for wearing a prayer shawl on Tuesday convinced Jerusalem police to withdraw their 15-day ban on her returning to the Kotel. She plans to go to the Kotel on Monday to chant from the Megillah with other members of Women of the Wall in…
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…
On Monday, 10 women were detained for participating in prayers while reading from the Torah and wearing religious garments at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. There are many wrongs in this event, but unfortunately, it will probably happen again until a major change occurs. Israel is by definition a Democratic Jewish state. Ever since it…
Ten women were arrested by police at the Kotel Monday morning after celebrating the start of the Jewish calendar’s most joyous month, Adar, while wearing their prayer shawls. This time, they had a large crowd of supporters and were joined by several of the men who, as young soldiers and paratroopers, liberated the Kotel in…
As if things weren’t difficult enough for women who want to pray or be in any way connected with their loved ones’ bar mitzvahs at the Western Wall, Israel’s outgoing Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, has proposed a mechitzah with one-way glass. The current mechitzah at the Kotel is, I would guess, between eight and…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly has asked the Jewish Agency to come up with a solution for non-Orthodox women’s groups who want to pray at the Western Wall. Netanyahu asked Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky to examine the issue, the Associated Press reported citing an unnamed Israeli government official. The AP quoted Jewish Agency…
Two leading thinkers went head to head on the next best step for Women of the Wall regarding the quest to make Judaism’s holiest site a place where women can pray any way they want — even if that means wearing a tallit or tefillin. Yossi Klein Halevi and Rabbi Rachel Beit-Halachmi, both American-born scholars…
The Orthodox rabbi who oversees the Western Wall has vowed not to soften his confrontational approach toward Jewish women seeking to pray at the holy site in Jerusalem. On Friday, police detained four women for wearing prayer shawls as they tried to start a prayer service. There have been numerous similar incidents in the past….
