The fuss about 'pluralistic prayer' at the Kotel (Western Wall)
I am sure that many of you, particularly in the US where the reactions have been shrill, have heard the fuss about the government 'abandoning' an agreement to facilitate 'pluralistic' prayers at the Western Wall. There's a lot of misinformation about this decision in the media. This video, which I found on Facebook last night, does a great job of clarifying what's really going on.
Let's go to the videotape (I included the entire Facebook post):
Another article, that destroys the claims about 'mixed prayers' being policy at the Kotel during the Mandatory (pre-State) period appears here:
Few seem to recall that the conflict between Arabs and Jews in
British Palestine was directly related to the Kotel and Jewish demands
for prayer rights there. The 1929 riots and pogroms against Jews was due
to a conflict at the site and was referred to as the “Wailing Wall
disturbances” for many
years. According to an article on the subject, “The issue of Jewish
rights of worship at the Wailing Wall flared up as a result of an
incident on 24 September 1928 when the screen separating men and women
at the Wall was removed by a British police officer in the midst of
prayers on Yom Kippur.” Before 1967 Jews were forbidden from bringing
many prayer items to the site. The lack of separation between men and
women was not because Jews didn’t want separation, but because they were
forbidden to change the site, because it was run by the authorities and
Muslim religious leaders saw it as being owned by Muslims. Colonial
authorities ran the Wall.
Let’s read on regarding the 1928 incident: “The ensuing outcry of
world Jewry and the Zionist movement in the wake of the screen incident
was accompanied by an increasing Jewish challenge to the status quo
rights of worship at the Wall, as well as demands for possessing the
Wall and its surrounding area. Indeed, during the 1920s a number of
Zionist and Jewish leaders sought to expand the Jewish standing and
rights of worship at the Wall.”
So at the heart of the Jewish and Zionist demands for increased
rights to the Wall was the demand to separate men and women as in
traditional Orthodox services. Wait a sec. But I thought the “good old
days” back then men and women prayed together? Actually they only prayed
“together” because Jews were forbidden from making any changes to the
site by the British, who were listening to the Islamic Wakf and its
demands for a “status quo.”
Some of you might recall that when Barack Hussein Obama was a candidate for President eight years ago, he came to Israel, and placed a note in the Western Wall that was promptly stolen out of curiosity.
So when Donald Trump sent a note to be placed in the Western Wall, he did something different. He photographed it and sent it to one of Israel's largest circulation newspapers.
Trump and Pence to speak out at Jerusalem rally against #UNESCO_Lies, but not at Aish HaTorah
The Republican party is looking for a new location for a Jerusalem rally at which candidates Donald Trump and Mike Pence will speak via satellite, after Aish HaTorah backed out of hosting it.
Aish HaTorah rejected a request by the
Republican Party to host a rally with speeches by Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence next
Wednesday after The Jerusalem Post reported exclusively that the event would be held on the organization's rooftop over-looking the Western Wall.
Trump
and Pence agreed to speak via satellite at the rally which was billed
as an event calling for the strengthening of Jerusalem following
UNESCO's controversial decision about the city.
"We decided not to do the event, because Aish is a non-profit
that doesn't get involved in partisan politics," Aish director general
Rabbi Steven Burg told the Post.
Burg said Aish would
do its own event in response to UNESCO "because the real issue is an
unjust decision trying to erase the Jewish connection to the Temple
Mount." Burg posted The Jerusalem Post article about the rally on Facebook explaining that Aish has decided not to host the event.
He said that he had received protest letters. There was also an outcry on Twitter.
Maybe Trump should just come here and visit the Kotel (Western Wall). That's what Romney did.
#Sukkot at that place where #UNESCO_lies and says Jews have no connection
Picture taken around 7:00 am this morning at the Western Wall (base of the Temple Mount, and as close as yours truly will get for now), a place #UNESCO_lies has tried to disconnect from the Jewish people.
Undoubtedly correct. Wonder when the caption was added. My Great Uncle worked there in the 1930's....
Anyway, today is Tisha b'Av, the day that we commemorate the destruction of the two Holy Temples, the day that God told us would be a day for crying for generations (in response to the spies lying about the land of Israel - see Numbers 13-14), and the day that many other disasters and tragedies in Jewish history have taken place.
This year, Tisha b'Av was pushed off to the 10th day of Av, and it coincides with the day that the Jews of Gush Katif in Gaza were expelled from their homes eleven years ago.
UNESCO chief blasts 'Palestinian' attempt to have Western Wall declared a Muslim holy site
As the 'Palestinians' decry Israel for supposed 'changes to the status quo' on the Temple Mount, they are attempting to create one of their own by orchestrating a UNESCO vote (you will recall that they are members of UNESCO - that's why the US hasn't paid dues in four years) declaring the Western Wall (pictured) to be an Islamic holy site. UNESCO director general Irina Bukova is not pleased, and blasted her own board today for bringing the matter to a vote.
“We all have responsibility to UNESCO’s mandate, to take decisions that
promote dialogue, tolerance and peace,” said Bokova. “This is especially
important for young people, who should be nurtured and educated for
peace.”
She issued her statement on Tuesday, in advance of
Wednesday’s highly publicized vote by UNESCO’s Executive Board in Paris
on a draft resolution, which “affirms that the Buraq Plaza [the Western
Wall] is an integral part of al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif.”
A
statement put out by her office said that Bokova “appeals to the UNESCO
Executive Board to take decisions that do not further inflame tensions
on the ground and that encourage respect for the sanctity of the Holy
Sites.”
Her office added that the discussion “could be seen to
alter the status of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, inscribed
on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, and that could further incite
tensions.”
The “protection of culture heritage should not be taken hostage, as this undermines UNESCO’s mandate and efforts,” Bokova said.
She
has consulted with nations on the 58 member board to encourage them to
pursue constructive dialogue that promotes tolerance and mutual respect
such as outlined in the mandate of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Jerusalem is a city that is
holy for Jews, Christians and Muslim and it should be a place of
dialogue for all three faiths, she said.
Bokova called on “all
parties to ensure that cultural heritage, including religious, is
preserved and accessible to all and to resume dialogue in the spirit of
mutual understanding.”
The six-page draft resolution – submitted
by Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, and the United Arab
Emirates on behalf of the Palestinian Authority broadly condemns Israeli
actions in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
At no point does
the resolution mention the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem,
which dates back to biblical times. Nor does it reference the Temple
Mount or the Western Wall, which was part of the retaining wall King
Herod built for the Temple Mount more than 2,000 years ago. It also
relies solely on Arabic names for the holy sites on and around the
Temple Mount.
Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama Hacohen
called the resolution “a total Islamization” of a site that is revered
by both Jews and Muslims.
Funny that we have not heard equally vehement opposition to this resolution from US President Hussein Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, UN Ambassador Power or National Security Council Chief Rice.
I wonder why the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah' has not come out against this. /sarc
It seems non-stop although this is the first recent one outside Jerusalem. This morning, a 'Palestinian' woman stabbed an Israeli man in the back near the Western Wall plaza. He too was shot, and both were taken to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital (only in Israel). Here's my critique of how Maan reported that story (I can tweet from my phone, hence there are a lot more tweets than posts):
And here's Josh Hasten describing the first attack of the morning in which seven cars were damaged and at least one person was hurt by stone throwers on the Tekoa - Har Homa road.
Let's go to the videotape.
The terrorists tried to pull a woman from her car, but she escaped, and was taken to the hospital, lightly wounded.
UPDATE 1:57 PM
Here's video of the Kiryat Gat terrorist being chased down and shot.
Let's go to the videotape.
WATCH: Scene where the terrorist was shot by Israeli Forces after running into an open apartment door escaping them. pic.twitter.com/tvrUC3oJzu
Astonishingly beautiful picture of blood moon over Western Wall
Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you and a reminder that because I live in and am located in Israel, I am only barred from 'working' on one day of the holiday at the beginning and another at the end.
Below is a stunning picture of the 'blood moon' lunar eclipse over the Western Wall on Sunday night.
I can only hope it was taken by a non-Jew because Jews are not supposed to benefit from pictures taken by Jews on the night of the holiday to which the 'work' strictures apply.
To cry: Last picture of three-month old terror victim at Kotel (Western Wall) shortly before she was murdered
Three-month old Chaya Zisel Braun HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) was on her way home from the Kotel (Western Wall) with her parents and grandparents on Wednesday night when a 'Palestinian' terrorist ran her over and murdered her. The picture above was taken at the Kotel shortly before she was murdered (Hat Tip: Kikar Shabbat).
Oh and by the way - she was a US citizen. But that apparently means little to the US State Department. 'Even-handed' as always.
Three-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun, the baby girl killed today in Jerusalem during a vehicular terrorist attack, was an American citizen, a US official confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night.
The girl was thrown from her stroller as a car swerved into the Ammunition Hill light rail station, injuring seven others.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf has "urged restraint" and calm from both sides after the attack.
...
His grandaughter flew 10-20 meters in the air before landing headfirst on the pavement, Shimshon Halperin said Wednesday night.
Standing outside Hadassah University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus, after Chaya had died of intracranial bleeding Halperin explained how the driver from Silwan rammed a row of pedestrians, hitting Chaya’s stroller and sending her flying.
I guess you'd have to work for the State Department to believe that the 'Palestinians' would stop behaving this way if only we would give them a 'state.'
I think that the picture above probably best illustrates how many fewer people were at the Kotel this year for Tisha b'Av - both last night and today - than is normally the case. People were afraid to go due to the two terror attacks in Jerusalem on Monday.
Let's go to the videotape.
I go to the Kotel at mid-day on Tisha b'Av for the afternoon prayers. I find it too social for Tisha b'Av at other times.
Shocking video: Arab breaks Jew's skull with baseball bat on Shavuoth morning
Shavuoth is the one day of the year that I will walk through the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem rather than going around to the generally safer Jaffa Gate. There are two reasons for this. First, we enter Damascus Gate sometime around 4:00 am when there are very few Arabs around. Second, the place is crawling with border police units.
This attack took place at the Dung Gate, right down the road from the Western Wall, a gate that we often use during Passover and Succoth. It's considered safe. This attack happened in broad daylight and someone videotaped it (or maybe the video comes from a security camera).
The attack took place in Jerusalem as a group of Jewish youths made
their way to the Kotel. A Jewish youth suffered a fractured skull and
internal bleeding. The attacker was arrested.
According to the youths, they were on their way to the Kotel when one
of them stopped by the Dung Gate, the closest gate to the Kotel, to
urinate by the side of the road. The group continued, when suddenly they
realized a roughly 35-year-old Arab resident was attacking their friend
who had stopped.
The youths rushed to help their companion, only to find additional
Arab hooligans arriving on the scene, several of them armed with
baseball bats. At that point one of the Arab attackers struck one of the
Jewish youths in the head, as caught on film, severely injuring him.
The youth was evacuated to the hospital with a break in his skull and
internal bleeding as a result of the heavy blow. He later recalled that
the Arab man started shouting at him, claiming that they were on his
property, and began strangling him.
The Arab attacker was arrested by police, and had his detention extended.
...
Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir,
who represents one of the attacked Jewish youth for the Honenu legal
aid organization, responded to the events, noting how things would have
been different if the Jews had been the attackers instead.
"If this had occurred in the opposite manner, the entire agenda in
Israel would have been busy only on this issue," argued Ben-Gvir. "The
media would have spread on thick the red titles, the police would be
conducting arrests, and (Justice Minister) Tzipi Livni and (President)
Shimon Peres and even the prime minister would have been condemning it."
"But when a Jew takes a bat to the head, the hypocrisy
celebrates and the media is silent. We demand that the police enforce
justice, submit an indictment and ask for the attacker to be arrested
until the end of legal proceedings," said Ben-Gvir.
In a custom that has become universal – with non-Jews, as well as
Jews, writing out prayers that are “left” in the wall for G-d to address
– the wall is filled with notes of all sizes and shapes, all containing
pleas for good health, happy families, and myriad other needs.
According to Jewish tradition, a prayer rendered at the Kotel – the wall
outside the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount – has a special
power.
To make way for the new notes, the management of the Kotel – which is
headed by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Kotel and the Holy
Places in Israel – removes the notes every year before Passover. The
notes are then taken to a special site in the Mount of Olives cemetery,
where they are stored.
The notes were removed Sunday wth a special device that is capable of
picking up the small notes that are stuffed into the crevices of the
Kotel.
Speaking to Channel Ten, Mahmoud al-Habbash, Minister of Holy Places
in the PA, said that “there will be no peace until the end of the
Israeli occupation that began in 1967. Every piece of land that Israel
conquered then belongs to the Palestinians.” That includes Jerusalem,
“the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall.”
Asked what would happen if Jews wished to pray at the Wall,
al-Habbash said “they will be welcome, there will be no problem. There
will be no limitations on freedom of religion and worship. Religious
ceremonies are one thing, and politics are another.”
That's what they said in 1949 too and we all know what happened..... Freedom like the Temple Mount now, where Jews are arrested if their lips are moving?
With that, Channel Ten quoted sources in the PA that most of
the issues brought up in the negotiations being conducted by US
Secretary of State John Kerry, including land swaps, have been resolved.
But the Palestinians are insisting that all areas of Jerusalem
liberated in the Six Day War, including the Jewish Quarter, the Kotel,
and Jewish neighborhoods such as French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, and Har Homa
be placed under PA sovereignty. Kerry has spent much time and effort in
trying to come to a compromise on Jerusalem, but has so far failed, PA
sources said.
Speaking to Channel Ten, the PA's Jerusalem Minister, Abu-Ala,
said that the current round of negotiations was one of the most intense
ever between Israel and the PA, thanks to the strenuous efforts of Kerry
to get the two sides to agree to a negotiation framework.
But he said that effort came with a risk.
“Given the intensity with which the Americans are approaching
this, there will probably be undesirable consequences if the talks
fail.”
Kerry: 'Why fight over an old wall? I'll build you a brand new wall, close to the beach!'
US Secretary of State John FN Kerry is suggesting building a new Western Wall so that the 'Palestinians' can have the real one.
On Feb 1, 2014 John Kerry threatened Israel with an economic boycott, if
Israel does not accept his proposals for a Palestinian state. Take the
behind the scenes view Kerry's recent tour of Israel where he shares
many of his unique and original solutions at stops in Jerusalem, the
Jordan Valley and Tel Aviv.
Thousands pray against 'Kerry decrees' at Western Wall
On a gorgeous January afternoon, thousands of people came out to the Western Wall to pray against the 'Kerry decrees.'
A massive gathering brought thousands together at the Kotel (Western
Wall) Thursday night, in prayers beseeching G-d to "cancel the decrees"
of US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose peace plans would create an Arab capital in Jerusalem.
The prayer rally, which was held under the title "prayer for the
redemption of the people of Israel and their portion," was attended by
Jewish Home coalition members including Housing and Construction
Minister Uri Ariel, Deputy Religious Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, MK
Orit Struk and MK Moti Yogev.
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior and Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu led
the prayers, asking G-d to "give strength, courage, truth and faith to
our leaders. Give them fear and great awe of You, that they will fear
greatly to harm our holy land."
Ariel commented that "thousands of people came to prayer for the
people of Israel, to strengthen the government and the one who stands at
its head, that he may be able to stand firm against the different
pressures coming from the other side of the ocean," reports Mako.
At least 40 Bar Mitzvahs (Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies) were held
at the Western Wall over the weekend, despite Jerusalem being blanketed
with historic levels of snow, according to a statement from the office
of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz.
The statement notes that at least 30 of the ceremonies were carried
out as part of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which organizes Bar
Mitzvah ceremonies free of charge.
Rabbi Rabinowitz also noted that the Jewish holy site saw regular
attendance to prayer services despite the bitter cold. Groups of people
attended services throughout the chaotic weekend, the statement noted,
walking to Jerusalem's Old City by foot through freezing temperatures.
And where were the Women of the Wall? Heck, there was no one there to see them.... Maybe because it wasn't Rosh Chodesh? What happens if it snows again on Rosh Chodesh (the week after next)? Hmmm.
Posted on Facebook by Women for the Wall activist Ronit Peskin.
Writer and Channel 2 Newscaster Sivan Rahav-Meir (סיון רהב-מאיר) posted this photo to her timeline. In translation her words read:
Thursday at midnight, now at the Western Wall. The Jerusalem air is
very cold, and the Plaza is wet from the rain that fell here before.
More than 100 women are here at this time, from all types. With pants
and with skirts, with a prayer book in hand or with prayer in
the heart. Some of them are crying verses from Psalms towards the
stones, some of them are taking pictures and uploading them to Facebook.
They don't have a spokesperson or PR representative, they did
not invite reporters, and more fundamentally they did not come in an
organized fashion, and one doesn't recognize the other.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
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