Western Wall

12 Stories

Notes Pulled From Western Wall, With a Twist

Hazmat suits were required this time around due to coronavirus

(Newser) - He stood at one of the world’s holiest sites and prayed for those who've contracted COVID-19. Then Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of Jerusalem's Western Wall, watched as thousands of written prayers crammed into the crevices of stone were removed. This happens twice a year before Passover and Rosh...

Florida Governor: This Is the Prayer I Put in Western Wall

Ron DeSantis stuck the piece of paper in a crevice in May

(Newser) - Florida's governor says when he visited the Western Wall in Israel in May he followed tradition by sticking a slip of paper with a written prayer in between crevices of the ancient structure. Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed Monday that his prayer said, "Good Lord, spare us hurricanes this...

A Big Change Hits the Western Wall

Men and women will be able to pray together

(Newser) - In what is being hailed as a " landmark decision " by some and received "with a heavy heart " by others, the Israeli government has approved the creation of an area for mixed-gender praying at the Western Wall. The Women of the Wall organization has sought equal prayer...

Activists Fume Over Quick Fix in Western Wall Gender Fight

Plaza offers site for mixed prayer

(Newser) - Jerusalem's Western Wall has been embroiled in controversy over prayer rules tied to gender, and the latest attempt at a solution is rubbing many the wrong way. Backed by the Israeli minister for Jerusalem, Naftali Bennett, a new, 4800-square-foot prayer plaza is meant to offer an equal-opportunity praying location,...

Guard Kills Israeli at Western Wall

Victim had shouted 'Allahu Akbar'

(Newser) - A guard at Jerusalem's Western Wall holy site shot and killed an Israeli man this morning, thinking he was a Palestinian militant. The guard heard the man yell "Allahu Akbar," or "God is greatest" in Arabic, the BBC reports. "The fact he shouted Allahu Akbar,...

In Reversal, Israel Police Protect Praying Women

Usually, police arrest women instead

(Newser) - Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews showed up to protest a prayer gathering by the "Women of the Wall" at Jerusalem's holy Western Wall today, hurling chairs, water, and garbage at the women and stones at their buses, Reuters reports. In a reversal, police held back and clashed with the...

Palin in Israel: Why Do You Apologize So Much?

Former VP candidate has dinner plans with Netanyahu

(Newser) - Arriving yesterday in Israel for a two-day visit, Sarah Palin had a question for her guides: “Why are you apologizing all the time?” she asked, after learning about the ban on open Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount and the Arab riots following a 1996 Netanyahu decision regarding the...

Jews Tweet Prayers to Wailing Wall
Jews Tweet Prayers
to Wailing Wall
Jul 24, 2009 3:41 AM CDT

Jews Tweet Prayers to Wailing Wall

(Newser) - Jews seeking to send a message to God can now do so via Twitter, the Daily Telegraph reports. The "Tweet Your Prayers" service prints out tweeted prayers and deposits them between the stones in Jerusalem's 2,000-year-old Western Wall. Its founders accept no responsibility for unanswered prayers. "Take...

Pope Visits Holy Sites of Judaism, Islam

Benedict meets with leading Muslim cleric after visit to Dome of the Rock

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI began the second day of his Holy Land tour at one of the most contentious sites in the Arab-Israeli conflict: the Dome of the Rock, where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, and the adjacent Western Wall. The pontiff urged both sides to engage in...

Pope Must Hide Cross at Jerusalem Site: Rabbi

'I wouldn't go into a church wearing Jewish symbols,' Rabinovitch says

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem next month as a show of mutual understanding and sensitivity between Catholicism and Judaism—but a request from a prominent rabbi almost ensures he’ll offend someone, Time reports. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the pontiff should remove the cross...

Holy Season for Two Faiths Intersects in Jerusalem

Jewish new year coincides with Muslim month of Ramadan in city special to both

(Newser) - This year’s intersection of Jewish new-year holidays and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—a rarity due to Islam’s changing calendar—is felt particularly keenly in Jerusalem, a sacred city for both religions, Ethan Bronner notes in the New York Times. Night has become “a kind of...

Paper Runs Obama's Western Wall Prayer

Dem wants to be guarded against 'pride and despair'

(Newser) - The prayer Barack Obama put in Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday was removed by a Jewish seminary student and published in a local newspaper, the AP reports. It read, “Lord—Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me...

12 Stories