Again..the kotel is not a synagogue. certainly not an orthodox synagogue. there is no reason why 10% of the country (who did nothing to help capture and DO nothing to help secure the site) should be able to hijack a historical and cultural site and turn it into a synagogue of their specific sect. for 26, so yes in a mosque take ur shoes off if you want, but the kotel isn't a mosque or a synagogue. moreover, women wearing tefillin and talit is not against halacha. i suggest you read what the religious settlement leader moshe feiglin wrote on the matter, wherein he stated clearly that there is no halacha that says women cannot wear teffillin or pray or lead services or wear a talit. there have in fact been orthodox women rabbis. moreover only two prophets are buried within the walls of jerusalem and guess what, one of whom is, gosh golly, a WOMAN! furthermore, as feiglin explains, the kotel is not a synagogue whatsoever. so 28, there is nothing absurd about any absurd about ANY ONE of ANY FAITH holding services at the kotel, what is absurd is that an intolerant group of fanatics and fundamentalists think they can hijack a site that others died capturing and defending!

I totally agree with you . Until 1947 men and women prayed togather in all parts of the wall . there are many pictures of that in old books about erez Israel. After 1967 war in which the haredim did not participated the wall was liberated by seculars and then the haredi rabis saw chance to make troubles and money and jumped on it .

I am Secular, but I grew up in Panama in a tightly orthodox community, in my classroom there was a reform girl that in her bat mitzvah invited everybody to the synagogue. Seeing here put on the Tefilim and read the torah was for me like seeing an alien land on earth. I have to disagree with this guy, if we allow this woman to desecrate our religion and give them a special place for it, then why the hell are we here. Let's just give Jerusalem back and become a regular country and get over it!

is not judaism, it's tradition. It is easy for Haredim to spat on women and beat them instead of enrolling in IDF, their courage equal their involvement in the civil society.

If we want to fight for our rights we would start with civil marriages, Reform services at the wall is a very marginal affair indeed and with little support even among seculars. Israeli society does balancing acts between the different goals of a very diverse population. Screaming democratic rights every time doesn't cut it...tolerance and compromise do.

Let them try that on the other side of the Kotel, in the Mosque, and see how far they get. It's all incitement and provocation. Chareidim also have feelings. Please respect us too.

People who proclaim to be democratic, care about the rights of those with different views and beliefs. Orthodoxy prevents that option. The Jewish people have been bullied by Orthodox for centuries. We have been despised by every nation on earth because of their belligerence, (and those who support their view). It's time Judaism grew up and shed the shackles and limitations Of Orthodoxy.

one whose women don't pray A Jewish state is one in which women's prayers are banned unless they conform to Medieval European decrees. I didn't know that!

a large group of Charedi Jews entered a Reform "synagogue" and filled it and davened Orthodox style, such that the few Reform Jews there who bother to go to their "temple" were overwhelmed? Would they ask the Charedim to leave or accept that all Jews are welcome in a synagogue? I think they'd try to throw the Charedim out. And they should be thrown out of the Wall area unless they respect its customs. However, no self-respecting Orthodox Jew would want to be in as goyishe a religious location as a Reform temple.

What a loan of nonsense he writes. "The Western Wall and its central plaza do not belong to the haredi public. They belong to all of us, and we all have a right to express our faith at the site, while respecting the others' beliefs as well. " Would you also campaign for the muslims to pray there as they also demand? The Kotel is a haredi site - not a national archeological site. Women of the wall can pray elsewhere - where they will not OFFEND others! Some respect Mr Shalem.

It is, and always has been, a sacred place of worship. Jewish people were praying at the wall long before the Reform movement came into existence. Today the vast majority of worshipers (thousands daily) want Orthodox customs at the wall, a tiny group of radical feminists are not going to change that.

They're a poor excuse for something entirely different and most of the secular& democratic Israel know it.

does not apply to religion. By the way wanting to be a men is ludicrous and stupid. Just provocing for the sake of power and because these women do not understand judaism, however, are very good at coercive utopianism and imposing their will, does not make them right... by the way I am secular and consider myself an atheist! The lack of understanding of democracy at Israel' left is mindbogling, as is is discognative dribble of the writer of this article

Jo Jo.. the Kotel is a Jewish site, not a HAREDI site. Calling yourself a Jew does not mean adhering to Orthodox law. You are born a Jew and you die a Jew, regardless of how you practice your devotion to Gd. And if there are Jews out there that want to connect to Hashem, then they have just the same right as the Orthodox do. How horrible is it to interrupt someone when they are praying - who cares how they are praying. Its not right for you - then don't join. Walk away.

so they could properly explain what was going on without YNET making so many assumptions! Your article say, "Those who witnessed the rage of the haredi protesters could have mistakenly thought they were fighting for something the Halacha deems crucial" For one thing, it was very very crucial! And by the way, it is traditional for religious women to come out in droves for the "new moon"- Rosh Kodesh, esp. Sivan which is the month of the giving of the Torah. There's a reason behind EVERYTHING, but YNET assumes it's all bad and all one vs the other! That's not the case! Hope you'll be fair in your upcoming articles to research what's behind the scenes and then, not distort what the person tells you (which is often the case if they are Hareidi).

They don't represent me - & I'm not ultra religious. When I'm at the Kotel, I want to pray in silence, put my little note in the wall, & don't want some radical feminists next to me, dressed like men, singing loudly in my ear. If they want to do their "own thing," they should do it away from the main women's section.