Jerusalem Controversy

Helen Crowley (right) didn’t get her wedding dress fitted in time for her Zoom wedding to Paul Jacobs. So she improvised. Courtesy of Emma Ryan Traditional weddings are unsafe if not banned in much of the world due to Covid-19. But that doesn’t mean couples are canceling the dancing or…

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered in Christian tradition as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and burial, was closed on Wednesday as a precaution against the coronavirus. The closure, initially for a week, followed a meeting between Israeli police and church leaders, said Wadie Abu Nassar,…

In a dramatic move, the Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that April’s national Memorial Day ceremonies will take place without audiences and that the smaller events planned for municipal cemeteries across the country will be canceled outright, in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Israel’s Memorial Day — known as Yom Hazikaron…

A health minist­ry direct­ive orders people to stay at home unless going out to buy food or medici­ne A woman at Jerusalem's nearly deserted Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, after Israel has imposed some of the world's tightest restrictions to contain the new coronavirus. PHOTO: AFP JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday barred…

The authorities at the Western Wall holy site in Jerusalem have asked worshipers who arrive there not to kiss the stones of the wall amid efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Kissing the stones is customary among worshipers at the Western Wall — the holiest place where Jews can pray —…

With Jerusalem’s tourist scene decimated just before Passover and Easter, its tourist chiefs are launching an online platform to give people a “virtual” experience in the city. Museum staff will run trips inside empty museums, accompanied by cameras instead of tour groups, and guides will do the same on the…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Religious authorities cancelled or limited weekly prayer gatherings across the Middle East on Friday to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as they encouraged the faithful to pray for those afflicted by the global pandemic. Iran, which is mired in the worst outbreak in the…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Religious authorities cancelled or limited weekly prayer gatherings across the Middle East on Friday to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as they encouraged the faithful to pray for those afflicted by the global pandemic.Iran, which is mired in the worst outbreak in the region,…

After finishing up his prayers at the Western Wall on Tuesday, 22-year-old Mendel Leib puckered up and pressed his lips against the cold, ancient limestone, holding contact for three slow seconds as he wrinkled his eyes shut in one last personal plea. The gesture is customary among spiritually overwhelmed worshipers…

Israel’s chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, issued religious edicts on Thursday instructing observant Jews to obey health officials’ instructions to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. “No halachic instruction exists that would overrule the instructions of the Health Ministry,” wrote Yosef, the Sephardi chief rabbi. “The halachic…