Jewish & World News

Police data published Wednesday shows an estimated 10.5 million visits to the Kotel (Western Wall) in 2012. The numbers indicate a major boost in Kotel tourism compared to the year before.

The Western Wall was emptied of layers of notes from its cracks and crevices for the New Year. The notes were removed Monday morning under the supervision of the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, who ensured they will remain confidential. They will be buried.

What may be the world's largest mezuzah was affixed at the gate of the upper entrance to the Kotel plaza Monday. The mezuzah was contributed by philanthropist Shmuel Flato-Sharon. While the mezuzah is being touted as the world's largest, it should be noted that a mezuzah said to be the world's largest seems to pop up at least once a year. Another mezuzah donated by Flato-Sharon was placed at Beis Refuah Kaplan in Rechovot just three months ago, and it, too, was hailed as the world's largest.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird visited the Western Wall on Monday at the tail end of a Middle East trip that took him to Lebanon and Jordan. According to Joseph Lavoie, the acting director of communications in Baird’s office, the visit was a private one. The minister, Lavoie said, was flying home from Ben-Gurion Airport after having visited Israel’s northern and eastern neighbors.

Police closed the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors on Sunday morning, the fast of Tisha Be’av, due to fears of “provocation” – despite a promise on Saturday night that the holiest site in Judaism would be open to Jewish worshipers. Nearly 100 right-wing activists arrived at the entrance to the Temple Mount only to be informed that the site was closed to Jews.

Jews were barred from visiting the Temple Mount following Muslim agitation over inflammatory flyers. Police in Jerusalem prevented non-Muslims from visiting the Temple Mount Sunday morning  after the discovery of flyers hanging in the area stating that members of the ruling Likud Party were scheduled to visit the Temple Mount Sunday in order to "declare that healthy leadership begins with total control over Temple Mount."

Israel - Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov announced Monday that preliminary estimates show Israel received 3.45 million visitors this year. That's 14 percent higher than the previous record of about 3 million tourists in 2008. In light of the record-breaking number of tourists, Miseznikov is optimistic that Israel will be able to meet its target of a million additional tourists by 2013, two year early. Miseznikov said, during an end-of-year press conference in Tel Aviv, that if everything went well and there were no unpleasant surprises, Israel could reach the four million mark, next year. During the press conference, Miseznikov proudly enumerated 2010’s favorable tourism figures, which showed growth in incoming tourism, local tourism, return visits by tourists, treasury income from the sector, new job created, increased budgets and new hotel construction starts. He also expressed pride in a personal record, being the first tourism minister in a decade to remain for two years i...

The Palestinian Authority’s rewriting of the Bible has reached a new peak or – low – with a “scientific study” claiming that Jews did not begin to claim a connection to the Western Wall (Kotel) until 500 years ago.

Jerusalem's district planning council was on Sunday set to rule on a controversial museum project that archaeologists claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.

Most people go to the Western Wall to pray, but now some will also head there to pay.  The cabinet has approved a planthat would allow for sponsorship messages to be beamed onto the Western Wall, sources in the Prime Minister's Office told Haaretz Monday. 

The cardboard yarmulkes that have long been a fixture at the Western Wall will no longer be seen. In their place have come new yarmulkes made out of white material - made in China. The Western Wall Legacy Foundation received a donation of one million of the new yarmulkes (skullcaps, or kippot), courtesy of Michael Mirilashvili, in memory of his late father Moshe. The donation by Mirilashvili, president of the Georgian Jews World Congress, was coordinated with the offices of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. The rabbi's office announced that the old cardboard yarmulkes did not "sit well" on one's head, and would often have to be held there manually. In addition, the new head-coverings look much more dignified than the folded-and-stapled cardboard shapes. Arutz Sheva