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A prominent
Rabbi wrote, "Once you have lived a moment at the [Western] Wall,
you never go away."
Originally called simply the Western Wall, it acquired
the name Wailing Wall
because of the nature of the prayers said
there. Rabbi Feldman at the Jewish Center
of Princeton explained that the term "Wailing Wall" is not an endearing
one, not an appropriate one. It implies that
Jews go there to "wail" rather than to pray,
or that the only prayers of lament are said
there in that sacred place below the Temple Mount. He says that "It's
the Western Wall. And it's a memorable experience, standing there before
that wall,
looking around at the crowds, pondering the generations that have been there before,
being overwhelmed by the atmosphere of prayer, sensing that you are
part of something much bigger than
yourself."
There's even a little humor about the
Western Wall:
A Jew goes to the Wall every year and
puts a prayer in the crack saying, "God
please help me win the lottery." Year after
year, he loses. Finally, after several years,
God speaks to him: "Nudnik, will you go
and buy a ticket."
And the Israeli postal workers' favorite
anecdote is about an Israeli man who,
years ago, wrote a letter to God describing
his crippling "oremkeit" (poverty) and asking for 5,000 shekels. Postal
workers
were so moved they collected 4,300 shekels
and mailed it back. After a month, the
same person writes again to God, but this
time he writes, "Oh, thank you God for the
contribution, but next time, please don't
send it through those postmen. They're
thieves; they stole 700 shekels."
There's a Yiddish expression, "Az men
lebt, derlebt men zich alts." (If you live
long enough, you will live to see everything.)
CBSNews.com asks the question, "Ever
felt your prayers went unanswered? Try
sending a letter to God and chances are it
will end up, as many do each year, at an
Israeli post office in Jerusalem. They will be
read and then sent to the holy Western
Wall. The letters come from all over "di
velt," and in a host of languages. The "alt" (elderly) ask for good
health; others seek heavenly remedies for debts, relationship assistance, or
help finding a job. The "kinder" asks God
to spring them from homework assignments.
One letter was from a child named Joey
Winer, who left this message on the Kotel:
"I hope you take care of my aba (father in
Hebrew). Joey
Another person wrote requesting
assistance in landing a job as a bulldozer
driver. And a man asked for "mekhile"
(forgiveness) for stealing money from a
grocery store as a child. A man from
Tennessee wrote, "Please help me find a
job in Tallahassee or Monroe or some nice
place and find a good wife - soon. Amen.
Daryl
"Ver volt dos geglaibt?" (Who would
believe it?) Can't make it to the holy land
in person? Some companies even allow
people to send their prayers to the Western
Wall via the Internet. Prayers are printed out and placed in cracks in
the wall, and
the person's "kredit-kartl" (credit card) is
billed. The petitioner also receives a
confirmation postcard from Jerusalem.
An Israeli startup called POIP (Pray Over
Internet Protocol) makes it possible for you
to broadcast your prayers over the Internet.
The company sells phone cards that allow
you to record your prayers in your own
voice and then send them via Internet phone and webcam speakers to places like
the Western Wall or the Sea of Galillee.
And now for the latest news: Before he
left Israel, Barack Obama made a visit to the
Western Wall, but his trip to the Jewish holy site was marred by heckling. One
man
at the Wall began "shrayen" (to scream).
He said, "Obama, Jerusalem is our land!
Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale!" He kept
yelling this for Obama's entire 10 minutes at the Wall. Obama chatted
with the men
with whom he'd come to the Wall, before
walking to the Wall to place a note he had
previously written between the Wall's
cracks. He put his hand on the Wall, bowed his head and appeared contemplative. A
heckler, not an Obama fan, continued
yelling.
One person in a minyan, who usually prays loud, was
asked by the police to pray
more softly. This brought on a condemnation from others to pray even
louder than they have ever done before.
Obama comes and his men tell us how to
pray?!
The story does not end here. Someone,
possibly a seminary student, removed
Obama's note and sent it to an Israeli
newspaper. This paper then published it
and ran a photograph of the note on its
front cover.
Rabbi Anchelle Perl says that disclosing
the contents of the note Obama left at
Jerusalem's Western Wall "is the
equivalent of reading someone's diary--a
gross violation of privacy."
These "kvitlach" are, by their very nature, very
personal communications.
It is "umgerekht" (wrong) and contrary to
Jewish law, to read other people's mail
without their explicit permission.
Others actually believe that the publication of Obama's "kvittel" was
intentionally effected by Barack himself,
in order to cash in the obvious political dividends. expatriateowl.blogspot.com
says, "But Obama is too much of a political
animal for me to believe that he hadn't
considered the very, very strong possibility
that his kvittel would somehow go public."
Others have written that Obama deserves credit for
bringing attention to
the Western Wall as a place of major
importance even for non-Jews, even if he
is using it as a political tool.
And, finally, one person asks, "Will Obama's visit to
the Western Wall be the
next "New Yorker Cover Art"?
"Ver vaist?" (Who knows?)
___________________________
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe has visited the
Western Wall twice. She has placed a
"kvitel" between the cracks of the Wall,
but will not divulge the message.
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