The Wailing Wall’s Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and his crew on Sunday removed thousands of handwritten notes placed in the crevices of the ancient Wall, just a stone’s throw down from God’s Mountain (which, in the recent and less recent past has been the site of real stones being thrown, in one direction—you guessed it, the one facilitated by gravity).
It’s a lot like visiting a recluse friend, enclosed behind the thick fence surrounding his house, ringing the bell a few times, trying the doorknob, then giving up and, before walking away, leaving a note: Came to see you, but you were probably asleep, or watching the game. Call me.
Rabbi Rabinowitz and his men carry out their bit of front lawn work twice a year, before Rosh Hashanah and before Passover. I’m sure they take the notes to a safe place.
Here, at the Jewish Press online, we’ve begun a new pre-Rosh Hashanah tradition of petitioning God for the new year. You get one request, make it count. It doesn’t have to be for peace on Earth, you can ask for a Schwinn bike. Or a bigger apartment, with a porch. Or a puppy.
I entered the second request on the list, check it out.
When Rosh Hashanah comes (or maybe Yom Kippur), we’ll seal the list and turn it over to our Father and King in Heaven. We’re pretty sure He browses the Jewish Press.
He has a Facebook page, too, with 3,194,578 likes.
I suppose He could do better. But every time He tries to upload a new picture album, someone sticks a new note in His Wall.