Israel approves mixed-sex Jewish prayer site at Western Wall

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:03am EST
Israel approves mixed-sex Jewish prayer site at Western Wall
JERUSALEM | By Dan Williams


The Israeli government approved on Sunday the creation of a mixed-sex plaza at Jerusalem's Western Wall to accommodate Jews who contest Orthodox curbs on worship by women there.

The wall is revered as a vestige of Judaism's two ancient temples and access to it is segregated by gender. Most religious rites take place in the men's section in accordance with centuries-old Orthodox standards that hold sway in Israel.

The new area will be located at a separate expanse of the wall that, when seen from the plaza looking toward the wall, stands to the right of the current Orthodox-administered compound where men and women will still worship separately.

More liberal streams of Judaism, which outside of Israel have larger followings than Orthodoxy, chafe at the restriction. It is regularly challenged by the activist group "Women of the Wall", sometimes setting off scuffles and police intervention.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-judaism-israel-wall-idUSKCN0V90ON?rpc=401

[KG]

1. religious insanity

[thesquanderer]

2. And another country leaps into the 20th century.

But I try to be kind. 100 years ago, women couldn't vote in the U.S., and in the grand scheme of things, that only puts us a blink of an eye ahead.

[starroute]

3. And it's likely just the wall of a Roman fortress, anyway

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2013/article/wailing-at-the-wrong-wall

For hundreds of years, the long-accepted traditional location of the temple of Solomon and the later Second Temple expanded upon by Herod the Great in Jerusalem has placed them within the precinct that now contains the famous Haram al-Sharif (Dome of the Rock), otherwise known as the “Noble Sanctuary”. It has been a sacred space for three major world religions for centuries.

In recent years, however, some scholars have challenged the traditional view. Not without controversy, they have revolved their arguments around what they consider to be a misreading or dismissal of the literature by Josephus and others regarding the size and location of Fortress Antonia, the Roman enclave in 1st century Roman-occupied central Jerusalem that represented the might of Rome in the otherwise troublesome (for the Romans) province of Judaea.

Most recently, researcher and author Marilyn Sams has advanced the argument that Fortress Antonia, represented by tradition as a monumental or castle-like structure located during Herodian times just north of the Second Temple on the periphery of the large rectangular temple precinct, was actually a much larger complex, more akin to the typical standard Roman fortress layout that existed during the time of 1st century Jerusalem, the time of Jesus. The actual size and nature of this alternative model for Fortress Antonia, she argues, would have encompassed the area most scholars and historians have identified with the temple precinct. She bases her argument at least in part on the descriptions recorded by Josephus and others. . . .

Moreover, Sams cites the insufficiency or paucity of archaeological evidence for the traditional concept of the Fortress Antonia near the area at the northern periphery location of the Temple Mount, and points to the more abundant evidence unearthed in other locations nearer to the current, traditionally accepted temple location, suggesting that this supports the much larger Roman encampment concept consistent with the standard Roman fortress model of 1st century times.

[CTyankee]

4. oh, well...

[elljay]

7. Not Exactly a Reliable Source

The author of this text is an English Lit major from Brigham Young University, not an archaeologist. She based her work on that of Ernest Martin, who was a meteorologist affiliated with the cultish The Worldwide Church of God (btw, Martin also predicted the destruction of the Earth by a comet or asteroid, followed shortly thereafter by the reappearance of Jesus.) The existence of Martin and Sams seem to be entirely unnoticed by the archaeology world, which hasn't even bothered to comment on their "works". You can take this as evidence of a conspiracy, or as evidence of a lack of scholarship not meriting a response. It does appear that both Sams and Martin have at least the same qualifications as your average Republican denier of climate change.

[starroute]

9. Doubts about the wall have been circulating widely

I'll admit that I couldn't find any source that seemed completely solid -- but there are enough bits and pieces of evidence out there to raise legitimate questions. And all archaeology in Israel these days is so heavily politicized that it becomes something of a minefield to try to thread your way through it.

I'm inclined to believe the skeptics are correct on this one, but I'll grant that there's a lot of room for uncertainty.

[New Orleans Strong]

5. Sharia law for me. Not for thee. Anyone else exhausted trying to keep up?

[OnlinePoker]

6. If god knows what's in everyone's soul, why do we have to pray? n/t

[olddad56]

8. wow, how progressive.