Tag Archive for Women of the Wall

| February 1, 2016
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Historic victory for non-Orthodox praying Jews at Western Wall

 

Natan Sharansky, the Jewish Agency chairman, hailed the cabinet’s decision to approve a non-Orthodox prayer section at the Kotel (Western Wall) as an “unprecedented” decision for Israel and world Jewry.

By JEREMY SHARON,  STEVE LINDE

 

The Women of the Wall organization, the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel and North America as well as political leaders in Israel and the Diaspora hailed the agreement approved on Sunday to formally designate a prayer area for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall.

IDF’s Nachal brigade ‘swearing-in’ ceremony at the Kotel – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The Orthodox political establishment, in particular the haredi leadership, was, however, greatly angered by the recognition of the rights of non-Orthodox Jews inherent in the change, although they realized they were essentially powerless to avert it. Continue Reading »

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| October 24, 2014
Comments Off on Disregarding regulations & protocol, Women of the Wall sneak miniature Torah into the Kotel

Disregarding regulations & protocol, Women of the Wall sneak miniature Torah into the Kotel

The religious feminist organization says this is 1st time in 25 years women have read from the Torah at the holy Jewish site.

Western Wall Rabbi condemns the group’s ‘deception.’

 

Defying regulations by Western Wall rabbinic authorities, members of Women of the Wall smuggled a tiny Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Kotel Friday morning, in what the feminist prayer group said was the first reading from the Torah by women at the holy site in 25 years.

Bat mitzvah girl Sasha Lutt reads from the Torah scroll smuggled into the Kotel.

Bat mitzvah girl Sasha Lutt reads from the tiny Torah scroll smuggled into the Western Wall, Fri.

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Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| October 8, 2013
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Women of the Wall agree to pray in newly designated space

Women of the Wall is demanding that the Robinson’s Arch section be equal to the existing plaza in size, topography, budget and facilities.

By JTA

TEL AVIV — Women of the Wall agreed in principle to pray in a new egalitarian space adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza, provided the space meets several conditions regarding design and management.

Women of the Wall agreed in principle to pray in a new egalitarian space adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza. – JTA

Until those conditions are met, Women of the Wall said in a statement Monday that it will continue praying at the women’s section of the Western Wall, as the group has for 25 years.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| October 4, 2013
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Women of the Wall Ignore Newly Designated Prayer Area

Dozens of women avoid the new prayer area recently opened at the Western Wall, convene in the women’s section to mark the new month of Cheshvan.

By Adam Ross

 

Dozens of members of the “Women of the Wall” organization arrived at the Kotel, (Western Wall) Friday morning to celebrate the new Hebrew month of Cheshvan.

The women did not pray at the non-denominational  “Israel Plaza” recently opened by Minister for Religious Affairs MK Naftali Bennett, (Jewish Home), but instead insistence on convening in the women’s section of the Western Wall plaza, surrounded by familiar protests, shouts and police officers.

In contrast to previous months, Women of the Wall had not organized transportation to the Western Wall, with women arriving independently for 7:00 a.m.  Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| August 31, 2013
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Western Wall opens temporary egalitarian section for the public

 

On its first day, the new section called “Ezrat Yisrael,” hosted 6 bar mitzvahs & weddings.

Bennett says he doesn’t want any controversy surrounding the temporary area, ahead of the Jewish High Holy Days.

By Yori Yalon & Israel Hayom Staff

 

On Thursday, Jerusalem’s new temporary egalitarian section at the Western Wall was opened to the public.

Women of the Wall praying at the Western Wall [Archive] – Photo: AP

The provisional space, temporary until the government builds a permanent structure designed for non-Orthodox Jewish streams at the Western Wall, is at the Robinson’s Arch area adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| July 29, 2013
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Women of the Wall asks for use of Kotel’s Torah scroll or to bring in its own

Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall said it was “absurd” that Rabinowitz has refused Women of the Wall’s offer to donate a Torah scroll to the Kotel (Western Wall) for use by female worshipers there.

By JTA

 

Women of the Wall asked the rabbi of the Western Wall to allow the group to use one of the site’s Torah scrolls.

File:Jerusalem Western Wall BW 2.JPG

Western Wall Torah Ark, inside men’s section of Wilson’s Arch – Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In a letter sent Sunday, Women of the Wall made the request to Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz  for their Rosh Chodesh prayer service, marking the start of the new Jewish month.

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| June 9, 2013
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Women of the Wall service this month ends without arrests

Large number of Jerusalem Police & Border Police deploy to Western Wall to encounter only several dozen haredim, so there wasn’t a recurrence of last month’s violent clashes between women & ultra-Orthodox protesters.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

Despite fears of a showdown, the Women of the Wall went ahead with their monthly prayer service at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Sunday morning, in a morning that turned out to be relatively uneventful.

The Women of the Wall praying at the Western Wall [archive] – Photo: Contact

Last month, thousands of ultra-Orthodox teenagers were bused in for an organized demonstration against the Women of the Wall, and clashed violently with police and members of the group during the prayer service.

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| May 22, 2013
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Yesh Atid’s bill promotes division of Western Wall equally between men & women

MK Aliza Lavie says current situation must change, where the men’s section at the Kotel can no longer be 3 times larger than the women’s.

Gideon Allon

 

Chairwoman of Knesset’s Committee on the Status of Women MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) has presented a bill promoting equally dividing the Western Wall plaza between men and women in terms of physical space.

Separate and unequal. Men and women’s sections at the Western Wall [Archive] – Photo: Uria Tadmor

The bill states that currently, the men’s section is three times bigger than the women’s section, forcing women who pray at the holy site to crowd together, while more often than not, the men’s section remains half empty.

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| May 16, 2013
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Livni: Bennett Won’t Decide on Kotel

Tzipi Livni says she won’t allow Naftali Bennett to decide on Women of Wall.

By Gil Ronen

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni announced Wednesday that she will not allow Minister of Religion, Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home party), to solve the Women of the Wall (WoW) controversy by promulgating new regulations for Kotel prayer.

“I am informing you of my principled stand on the matter, before you make any new regulations,” she announced, in what she said was a letter that she sent to Bennett. “I accept the court’s decision and I, too, believe that it will make a meaningful contribution to the advancement of women in Israeli and religious society.” Continue Reading »

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| May 9, 2013
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Minister Bennett’s compromise: Prayer shawls allowed but reading the Torah, not

Religious Services Minister, Naftali Bennett, meets the Women of the Wall organization & proposes allowing women to pray out loud & wear prayer shawls, but not wearing tefillin or reading an open Torah.

By Yehuda Shlezinger

 

Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) met with the Women of the Wall organization on Tuesday after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein instructed him to devise specific statutes defining what kind of religious observances would be allowed at the Wall.

Women at the Kotel in Jerusalem – Photo: Connec

During the meeting, Bennett proposed allowing women to wear prayer shawls and pray out loud, but not to wear tefillin and read from open Torah scrolls.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| May 7, 2013
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Israeli MK seeks new law addressing freedom of prayer at Kotel

Israel’s Attorney General decides not to appeal Jerusalem court’s ruling that essentially enables women to pray as they choose at Western Wall.

Women of the Wall to continue their monthly service as usual on Friday, but Minister Naftali Bennett plans to set new regulations by next month.

By

 

Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs Naftali Bennett plans to present new regulations for Jewish holy places that could restrict the right of Women of the Wall to pray as they see fit in the future, though he promised to formulate the new rules with input from the women’s group.

Young women wrap themselves in Israeli flags at the Western Wall

Young women wrap themselves in Israeli flags at the Western Wall.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| April 30, 2013
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Sharansky’s Western Wall prayer plan loses support from both sides

Sharansky’s Kotel plan loses support from both Religious and Women’s groups. Neither side willing to compromise.

By Ben Sales

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Natan Sharansky’s proposal to reduce tensions at the Western Wall has lost support from both Orthodox and non-Orthodox leaders.

When Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, made the plan public a few weeks ago, it received at least tacit approval from a range of activists, including the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz.

The plan would expand the egalitarian section of the Western Wall Plaza – called Robinson’s Arch – and create a unified entrance to the Wall’s traditional and egalitarian sections. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 25, 2013
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Judge: ‘Women shouldn’t have been arrested at Western Wall’

Judge Moshe Sobell ruled that the women were not a danger to the public & that their prayer did not disturb the public order.

By JTA

 

JERUSALEM  — Women praying together out loud at the Western Wall in prayer shawls did not disturb the public order and should not have been arrested, an Israeli court found.

2010 IN PICTURES JULY

Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of the Wall, is arrested for holding a Torah scroll at Judaism’s holiest site. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday ruled that five women from the Women of The Wall group should not have been arrested and rejected a police request for a restraining order against the women from the site. Continue Reading »

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| April 5, 2013
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Sharansky: Women reciting Kaddish at Kotel won’t be arrested

At PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s request, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky is drafting recommendations to decrease tensions at the Wall, ensuring that all Jews can pray in a comfortable manner at the Western Wall.

By JTA

 

JERUSALEM  — Women who recite the Mourner’s Kaddish at the Western Wall will not be arrested, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said he has been assured, despite a police vow to enforce a ban.

2010 IN PICTURES JULY

Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of the Wall, is arrested for holding a Torah scroll at Judaism’s holiest site. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

Jerusalem police Commissioner Yossi Pariente in a letter sent Thursday to Women of the Wall Chairwoman Anat Hoffman said he would enforce the Justice Ministry’s strict interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from violating the traditional practices at the site, which is overseen by haredi Orthodox officials. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| April 4, 2013
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Women banned by Jerusalem Police from holding Kaddish quorum at Kotel

Jerusalem police commander alerts Anat Hoffman, Women of the Wall chairperson of prohibition in letter, warning that women will be arrested & charged with breaking the law if they breach prohibitions.

By

Add Kaddish to the list of Jewish prayers and ritual objects women are not allowed to be engaged with at the Western Wall, according to the commander of the Jerusalem police.

2010 IN PICTURES JULY


Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of the Wall, is arrested for holding a Torah scroll at Judaism’s holiest site. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

In a March 14 letter to Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall, Commander Yossi Pariente of Israel Police department’s Southern District wrote that he met with a deputy attorney general for the government of Israel to go over the rules pertaining to Women of the Wall, which include prohibitions on:

“…Wrapping yourselves in tallitot [prayer shawls], holding a minyan [prayer quorum] of women including the Kaddish or Kedusha prayers, and reading from the Torah.” Continue Reading »

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