Monday, June 2, 2008

To Touch the Wall

To touch the Wall, to stand at the remnants of the Second Temple and to offer up our prayers to HaShem: This has been a longing for Jews for over two thousand years. In 1968, 40 years ago today, we once again could stand at the Wall and the Old City was filled with life.

The Palestinians try to deny Jewish ties to the Wall and to the Temple Mount but history cannot be denied. Arch of Titus was made after the Romans captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple.

Treppenwitz and his family went to visit Jerusalem.

I still get goosebumps when listening to this recording.

The blowing of the shofar and this prayer said at the Temple Mount are filled with the emotion of the dreams and hopes of 2,000 years:

El male rahamim, shohen ba-meromim. Hamtse menuha nahona al kanfei hashina, be-maalot kedoshim, giborim ve-tehorim, kezohar harakiya meirim u-mazhirim. Ve-nishmot halalei tsava hagana le-yisrael, she-naflu be-maaraha zot, neged oievei yisrael, ve-shnaflu al kedushat Hashem ha-am ve-ha'arets, ve-shichrur Beit Hamikdash, Har Habayit, Hakotel ha-ma'aravi veyerushalayim ir ha-elokim. Be-gan eden tehe menuhatam. Lahen ba'al ha-rahamim, yastirem beseter knafav le-olamim. Ve-yitsror be-tsror ha-hayim et nishmatam adoshem hu nahlatam, ve-yanuhu be-shalom al mishkavam [soldiers weeping loud]ve-ya'amdu le-goralam le-kets ha-yamim ve-nomar amen!

[Translation: Merciful God in heaven, may the heroes and the pure, be under thy Divine wings, among the holy and the pure who shine bright as the sky, and the souls of soldiers of the Israeli army who fell in this war against the enemies of Israel, who fell for their loyalty to God and the land of Israel, who fell for the liberation of the Temple, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and Jerusalem the city of the Lord. May their place of rest be in paradise. Merciful One, O keep their souls forever alive under Thy protective wings. The Lord being their heritage, may they rest in peace, for they shalt rest and stand up for their allotted portion at the end of the days, and let us say, Amen.]





Le-shana HA-ZOT be-Yerushalayim ha-b'nuya, be-yerushalayim ha-atika

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