The Biden administration is dictating religious policy to Israel over the delicate question of mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism.
U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain, who happens to be Muslim, tweeted on behalf of the administration Sunday that the U.S. supports the implementation of an expansion of the space for egalitarian — i.e. mixed — prayer at the Wall.
In traditional, or “Orthodox,” Judaism, men and women pray separately, and men lead the services. Since only men are religiously obligated to pray, the space allocated to men is larger than the women’s section at the Wall.
In other Jewish denominations, such as “Reform,” men and women pray together, and women often lead services. Reform is the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S., but is smaller in other parts of the world.
(In Islam, men and women also pray separately, except at the Kaaba in Mecca. There is no egalitarian prayer at other Muslim holy sites, including at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which sits above the Western Wall.)
The Western (or Wailing) Wall is the surviving remnant of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. Many Jews avoid praying on the Temple Mount itself — which is a Muslim holy site today — for fear of accidentally stepping on the Holy of Holies, the spot where the presence of God is believed to have dwelt, and which was entered only by the High Priest on the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
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