Prayer Plaza in Jerusalem for Both Sexes Ignites Uproar
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Jodi Rudoren
ISRAEL---Trying to calm months of intense wrangling over the Western Wall, Israeli officials on Sunday unveiled a new plaza where men and women can pray together. But the move was immediately denounced as discriminatory by the main group that has protested the rules at the holy site. After 25 years in which legislation and legal rulings barred women from wearing prayer shawls and phylacteries at the site, the activist group won a court victory this spring allowing members to pray as they wish. Over the past several months, thousands of ultra-Orthodox young people have crammed the site to prevent the women from using it, creating a new set of problems. Anat Hoffman, the leader of Women of the Wall, called Mr. Bennett’s new plaza a “monstrosity” that “looks like a sunbathing deck” or a “rock-star stage.” [link]
By Jodi Rudoren
ISRAEL---Trying to calm months of intense wrangling over the Western Wall, Israeli officials on Sunday unveiled a new plaza where men and women can pray together. But the move was immediately denounced as discriminatory by the main group that has protested the rules at the holy site. After 25 years in which legislation and legal rulings barred women from wearing prayer shawls and phylacteries at the site, the activist group won a court victory this spring allowing members to pray as they wish. Over the past several months, thousands of ultra-Orthodox young people have crammed the site to prevent the women from using it, creating a new set of problems. Anat Hoffman, the leader of Women of the Wall, called Mr. Bennett’s new plaza a “monstrosity” that “looks like a sunbathing deck” or a “rock-star stage.” [link]
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