The Israeli government has suspended the project of creating spaces for joint prayers of men and women at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. It is reported by The New York TImes.
“Today’s decision is a powerful blow to the unity of the Jews, Jewish communities and the nature of the relationship between the State of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora”, — said on this occasion, the defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman. As reported RIA Novosti, the author of the idea about the place praying together, the head of the Jewish Agency “Sohnut” Natan Sharansky also expressed their disappointment.
The decision on creation of zones of joint prayer was made in January 2016 after years of consultations with leaders of Jewish communities around the world. For were made by the representatives of the liberal Jewish communities in Israel and abroad, against — Orthodox followers of Judaism, controlling the religious life of the Jewish state.
The Wailing wall is divided into two parts — female and male. Women, unlike men, during prayers it is forbidden to read aloud the scrolls of the Torah, to use a funeral veil tallit, or blowing a shofar horn.