Leah Forster had last prayed at Jerusalem’s Western Wall 18 years ago. She had just graduated from high school and was still living the life of a Hasidic girl.
It was her first trip to Israel, and she had come to visit friends studying in a seminary for religious girls.
Looking back, she recalls a sense of disappointment that her first visit to the Jewish holy site had left her feeling cold. In fact, what she remembers most now is her sense of angst about what the future held. “I was like, ‘Crap, I’m coming home and I’ll probably have to get married to someone I don’t love.’”
“There were tears streaming down my face when I walked in,” Forster, 36, tells Haaretz.
“I was so grateful and so overwhelmed. I looked to the right of me, and there was this ultra-Hasidic lady. To the left there was an Ethiopian Jew, and behind me a woman in jeans. And it was just like we’re all one. I felt so connected and grateful.”
Another big difference — perhaps the most significant — was that this time she was accompanied by her wife (also called Leah).










