The chief rabbinate and the special Jewish Wailing Wall committee have decided to dismiss the self-appointed Ashkenazic Wailing Wall beadle, Noah Gladstone. While no reason is given for the dismissal, Gladstone is claiming that all the appurtenances in use at the Wall that bear the seal of the district commis-missioner. are his property and threatens not to permit the worshippers to use them if he is discharged.
With negotiations continuing between the rabbinate and Gladstone, Keith Roach, district commissioner, has ruled that the Jews will be unable to substitute a table and other appurtenances for those which the government has measured and stamped with its seal and which Gladstone claims as his property.
The Ashkenazic beadle who is faced with dismissal has been one of the central figures in the recent Palestine incidents over the Wailing Wall. It was he who set up the screen to separate men and women worshippers at the Wall during the Yom Kippur services of 1928, and it was the incident that resulted in Keith Roach’s ordering the screen removed in the midst of the prayers that eventually led to the more serious incidents over the Wailing Wall.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
