Israel to create a new egalitarian prayer plaza at Western Wall

[rug]

Women of the Wall wearing prayer shawls sing as they walk toward the women's section of the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday. (Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto Agency)

By Ruth Eglash January 31 at 12:17 PM 

JERUSALEM — Israel on Sunday approved a plan that would dramatically change the layout of Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, creating a space for egalitarian prayer and mixed-gender ceremonies for non-Orthodox Jews.

The new area, which will enable men and women to pray side by side, is to be adjacent to the existing plaza run by stringent ultra-Orthodox rabbis. That area is split into prayer sections for men and women, although women are not allowed to read aloud from the Torah, wear prayer shawls or sing there.

Along with creating a change to the delicate status quo, this marks an unprecedented move by the Israeli government to officially recognize the rights of Conservative, Reform and other Jewish denominations to hold organized prayer at the site.

Jewish groups in Israel and the United States hailed the decision as a historic step toward religious pluralism in Israel. American Jewish organizations, many of which feel that their religiosity is sidelined in Israel, have been integral in pushing the plan forward and assuring it remains on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agenda.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-to-create-a-new-egalitarian-prayer-plaza-at-western-wall/2016/01/31/ac48e9e7-e8b2-4301-a81e-2d192efe9359_story.html

http://womenofthewall.org.il/