I think the mirror is brilliant. The sun can not blind the blind.

... to actual Jews. Just saying.

There could be a safety hazard with glass mirror unless this is different kind of mirror somehow.

I hope that's the biggest problem our country faces - a mirror.

As long as they are improving things for women at the kotel, why don't they move the mechitzah to the middle of the prayer plaza...there is clearly not enough room for the women.

How do we suggest it?

They have a section all to themselves so why do they need to watch the men? The current system works and its cheap. Do we really need to go to the expense of what will probably cost thousands of dollars to install a 1 way mirror so the women cal watch the men? THIS IS PURE STUPIDITY

... 1st aliya, and I want to see him put on his Tefillin the first day he's a khiyuv to, and I want to be able to at least see the simkha. I carried him for 9 months and raised him. Why shouldn't I be able to participate ... even if it's just by watching ... in this major milestone in his life? Do I have less right to see him on that day than the strangers on the men's side who will no doubt join in the minyan?

Years ago, at my son's Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall, the partition was at waist level. The women in my family could stand at the partition and look over to see the Bar Mitzvah boy. Now the partition is too high for that. Why has the Western Wall Heritage Foundation turned the entire plaza into an place that does not welcome people who are not ultra orthodox?

I prefer to watch women all the way than molest little boys or girls. Don't you? Wise up, talibans! And don't come with the BS that it isn't my business. At least I fought for both countries unlike some of the little boys watchers...

Just remove the Machizah.

who want to see the Kotel without having to wear a kippa , and be surrounded by so many ultra orthodox ? It were mostly non orthodox who liberated our capital and the Kotel who is a part of OUR History too . Not only a place of worship

Is that so difficult to understand? Another - cheaper - way would be to have one section for men, one for women, and one for people who don't care if we mix men and women... this way we could be near our kids who have their bar mitzva!

Once you put a dry finger in your eye, problem solved. Iodits corrupting Torah bringing on curses six million times worse.

this guy is as Jewish as a pope

I may be an old lady, but if I have a choice, I'd much rather look at men than at women. Besides, if some of those women pray for finding a nice man, don't you think they should, at least, get a peek at a few?

when they become Bar Mitzva. Or is that forbidden now too? Stupid.

It would be wonderful if English and Hebrew responses could be simutaniously posted on both sites we could learn so much from each other. Just a thought.

So now single women and yentas may both pray AND shop for shidduchim AND be entertained by the young men preening themselves in conveniently-placed FULLSIZE mirrors (which I think is shaky al pi halacha)...while men may only adjust their tefillin and pray they're selected?...

What a colossal waste of money. First when the sun is in a certain position a 1 way mirror becomes clear glass. But more importantly we have to rid ourselves of the Zealots with their 16th century attitudes. You cannot force or legislate religious observance on the public it will only fail or even worse lead to bloodshed. This together with the special cash registers for Passover show how they want to use “force” to make everybody follow their ways. The destruction of the temple was in part caused by the Zealots at that time. If we don’t do something now we will be facing the loss of our democracy and find ourselves living in a theocracy similar to the Islamic countries.

The only problem with the mirrors is that if a man faces the mirror and davens that would be forbidden as he would be looking at an image of himself.

You're right, it is forbidden to pray in front of a mirror... Although I don't understand why anyone would pray looking in the mirror when the KOTEL is right in front of them... Maybe I'm just old-fashioned...

Thank you for not advancing the discussion one iota. As long as orthodox Jews are not directing exclusive attention to saving children from burning buildings, then it must be a waste of time, huh? But then again nobody lives up to this standard. You are a hypocrite.

How about giving more space to the women's section when working on the partition!

http://blog.rabbijason.com/2010/08/kotel-youre-looking-at-man-in-mirror.html Perhaps we should recall what Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the Orthodox scientist and philosopher, wrote about the Kotel. In a scathing letter to Ha'aretz regarding the Western Wall becoming an act of idolotry with people praying to stones and pushing notes through the cracks, Leibowitz wrote: "Here is my proposal. The square in front of the Kotel should be revamped as the largest discotheque in the State of Israel, named the Divine Disco. This will satisfy everybody." Ha'aretz printed his letter under the title "DisKotel" (From Tom Segev's book 1967).

To the rabbi appointed to administer the Western Wall, putting up a one-way mirror on the women's side ( or as a friend of my son calls it, the incredible shrinking women's section, now less than one-third of the allotted space), is an improvement, since it "enable(s) women... to (better) watch the ...celebrations," improving their "visiting experience." To Rabbi Rabinovich: we don't go to the Wall to watch men be Jews. We go there as Jews ourselves. We are not spectators at an "event." We are Jews. We are worshippers. We want the same opportunities for prayer afforded men, which Israeli taxes and support from Diaspora sustain there: we want sifrei torah; we want talitot and the ability to pray in groups in peace, without getting arrested, assaulted, or defamed with antisemitic slander. The degree to which this man and this establishment don't get it is breathtaking. It is time for rabbis there who see women as Jews, not wards. As for Rabbi Rabinovich, the mirror should go to him, so he can examine-- himself and his pretensions, his uninterrogated sense of entitlement about the spiritual needs of Jewish women, about which he clearly knows nothing. Shulamit Magnus Cleveland, OH

Recover the wall for the entire Jewish people - free it from the influence of the ultra-othrodox sects., who seem to be so twisted that they cannot control themslves if they see a woman and therefore need the Mechitza. If they cannot concentrate on their prayers then they are not suited to the site - Create special hours for the orthodox, the ultra orthodox and then release the wall for the sane majority who pay for it all.