A Jerusalem planning board has granted final approval for a museum and educational center near the Western Wall and now opponents may petition Israel’s High Court to block construction before it starts. The facility, reports Haaretz, will encompass an area of about 16,000 square feet above ground and also have “an archaeological floor and an…
The Attorney General’s Office in Israel has ordered the rabbi of the Western Wall to include women in the annual national candle-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah. “Preventing women from participating in national ceremonies is wrongful discrimination and we request that you ensure this fact is not taken for granted and that steps are being taken to…
The rabbi of the Western Wall criticized UNESCO for recognizing Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Muslim sites. In an open letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said the decision “cannot be explained by any historical, archeological, or cultural measure.” “Centuries of documented history prove…
The proposed egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, which was meant to serve non-Orthodox Jews worldwide, looks like the latest casualty of the terror wave hitting Israel. Progress on the initiative – supported both by the Israeli government and Jewish organizations – had been slow in coming, even before tensions over Jerusalem’s holy sites…
The head of the United Nations cultural agency said she “deplores” a proposal under discussion by the agency’s executive board that would declare the Western Wall a Muslim holy site. Irina Bokova, the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, called on the board to “take decisions that do not…
A Palestinian effort to have a United Nations agency declare Judaism’s holiest site a Muslim holy site is “an attempt to distort history,” Israel said. UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural body, is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the proposal concerning the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In a statement Monday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the proposal “an…
Israel Police officers detained a women’s rights activist at the Western Wall and confiscated her Torah scroll. Rachel Cohen Yeshurun, a Women of the Wall board member, was taken into police custody prior to a service Friday and released shortly afterwards, The Jerusalem Post reported. Women of the Wall runs gender egalitarian services at the…
The rabbi of the Western Wall apologized that a woman was turned away from the holy site for wearing a kippah, but said he was not familiar with the incident. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said in a statement issued Tuesday that if the incident did occur, the response was incorrect. Rabinovitch also said that the Israel…
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