Israel May Open Women's Access to Western Wall

Teresa Neumann : Apr 15, 2013
Jeremy Sharon – The Jerusalem Post

Different factions of orthodox and liberal Jews are in the throes of making a ground-breaking decision concerning coed seating at the Western Wall.

(Israel)—Currently, at Jerusalem's sacred Wailing Wall, men and women can pray together only in the small designated area of Robinson's Arch. But as reported on various news sites, Prime Minister Netanyahu has requested that the head of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharansky, submit a review of the gender segregation policies after the arrests of several women who defied the coed seating restrictions.

According to a Jerusalem Post report, a new plan could call for "the current prayer area at Robinson's Arch...to be elevated to the same level as the current plaza area, and for the area running along the Western Wall to be divided into three equal parts...with one entrance to the entire complex set to be created."

Calling the possible establishment of new seating at the Western Wall "groundbreaking," a report in NewsTimes also concedes that the push to change the status-quo at the Holy Site is driven in no small part by American women.

The Orthodox rabbinate in Jerusalem, the report states, "has fiercely resisted inroads by the progressive Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism, refusing to recognize their rulings, conversions or ceremonies as religiously valid. This has led to a deepening rift with American Jews, most of whom are affiliated with the liberal streams. Nowhere has this conflict been more visible that at the Western Wall."