In July , Alon Nil launched a free service allowing people around the world to Twitter their prayers, which are then taken in printed form to the Wailing Wall. After the war of and the Arab capture of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, Jews were generally banned from praying at the Wailing Wall, which was at times defaced by political posters.
Israel annexed Arab East Jerusalem immediately after the Six Day War and claimed ownership of the city's religious sites. Incensed—and fearing that the tunnel the Israelis began digging, starting from the Wailing Wall and under the Temple Mount, shortly after the war was over was designed to undermine the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site after the mosques in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia—Palestinians and other Muslims rioted, triggering a clash with Israeli forces that left five Arabs dead and hundreds wounded.
In January , the Israeli government approved the first space where non-Orthodox Jews of both sexes can pray side by side, and the first Reform prayer service of both men and women took place in February in a section of the wall known as Robinson's Arch.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile.
Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. The custom of inserting written prayers kvitlach into the Kotel's cracks is so widespread that some American-Jewish newspapers carry advertisements for services that insert such prayers on behalf of sick Jews.
Twice a year, cleaning teams using long sticks remove tens of thousands of the prayers from the crevices and bury them in bags on the Mount of Olives. In addition to the large crowds that come to pray at the Kotel on Friday evenings, it is also a common gathering place on all Jewish holidays, particularly on the fast of Tisha B'Av ,, which commemorates the destruction of both Temples.
Today, the Wall is a national symbol, and the opening or closing ceremonies of many Jewish events, including secular ones, are conducted there. Unfortunately, even a symbol as unifying as the Kotel can become a source of controversy in Jewish life. Ultra-Orthodox Jews have long opposed organized women's prayer services at the Wall; prayer services they maintain, may only be conducted by males.
A separate area is available for women to pray, but they are prohibited from wearing prayer shawls normally worn by male worshippers, singing, or bringing Torah scrolls to the Wall. On occasion, women have defied the authorities and been harassed by men or arrested by the police. This decision was met with praise from Jewish leaders across the globe, and opposition from Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Israeli citizens and members of the government.
The first Reform , mixed-gender prayer service to ever take place at the Western Wall was held at this new space on February 25, In , the government reneged on the deal to create the new egalitarian prayer space and defied a Supreme Court request to reconsider the decision. The government decision was widely viewed as a response to the opposition of religious parties in the coalition.
Netanyahu reportedly feared his government might collapse if he allowed the creation of the prayer space and his partners pulled out of the coalition. The decision sparked an uproar outside Israel , especially among leaders of the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements in the United States. For adults, entry is 30 NIS. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
It is recommended that NIS. Want more ideas about what to see in that area? Check out these other highlights of the Jewish Quarter. About Contact. Since then, Israel greatly expanded the area for prayer at the wall and the surrounding plaza, but the site has been a consistent source of controversy. Violence has broken out there over the years, with Muslim worshippers occasionally hurling rocks and other projectiles from the mount above on Jewish worshippers below.
Jewish groups have also contested the site, sometimes violently. A Jewish feminist group, Women of the Wall, have for years protested the control the Orthodox rabbinate exerts at the site and their inability to conduct women-led services there, occasionally resulting in scuffles with Orthodox worshippers.
0コメント