American Jewish leaders have told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Jewish diaspora’s relationship with Israel is at stake if it fails to implement a plan — already approved by the government, but blocked by the ultra-Orthodox — for an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall. At a June 1 meeting, called in emergency…
TEL AVIV — David Sharan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s U.S.-born chief of staff, who is heading negotiations on an egalitarian Western Wall plaza, will be the Israeli Cabinet’s next secretary. In April, Netanyahu tapped Sharan to run reopened discussion on an agreement to expand the non-Orthodox prayer platform at the Western Wall, allowing progressive…
The Women of the Wall group held Passover holiday prayers at the Western Wall, but did not hold a priestly blessing ceremony, after being banned by Israel’s attorney general. Some 200 women arrived at the Western Wall on buses from throughout the country to hold the Shacharit, or morning, prayers, and Mussaf, or additional, prayers…
Israel’s attorney general banned Women of the Wall from holding a priestly blessing ceremony at the Western Wall. The group, which advocates for women’s right to perform rituals that the Western Wall’s Orthodox authorities maintain are reserved for men, had planned to hold a ceremony featuring the traditional prayer on Sunday, April 24. On Thursday,…
Israel public radio rejected a Women of the Wall ad that included a woman chanting parts of the priestly blessing for being “controversial.” The ad, which is in Hebrew, invites listeners to attend the first ever priestly blessing ceremony in the women’s section of the Western Wall. The blessing will take place during Passover, on…
TEL AVIV — The Conservative and Reform movements in Israel are considering some drastic measures as part of a planned offensive over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem for egalitarian prayer if the government backs away from a long and drawn-out compromise to which it agreed. With that plan now at risk due to…
The historic compromise that would have created an egalitarian prayer section at the holy Western Wall has been compromised. Under intense pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “several difficulties arose” with the painstakingly-negotiated deal and that new talks will be held. The difficulties? It comes down to…
In a move bound to draw opposition from the Orthodox establishment, feminist activists are planning to hold a first-ever priestly blessing ceremony at the Wailing Wall for and by women. And the estate of the late Leonard Nimoy is helping fund it. The event, scheduled to be held during the Passover holiday, is being organized…
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