from A Mother in Israel;
a guest post by Rahel Jaskow;

Separate and Unequal at the Western Wall

The first time I ever visited the Western Wall (in Hebrew, the Kotel ha-ma’aravi), it was a chilly winter day. The women’s section was packed with worshippers, while the men’s section was nearly empty. I assumed that the women’s level of devotion had to be much greater than the men’s.

I soon realized that my assumption had been wrong. There were dozens of men at the Kotel that day. But they were all inside the enormous amount of indoor space in the tunnel complex just to the left of the men’s section – protected from cold and rain in winter and the blazing sun in summer.

What about the women? Let’s take a closer look.