Checking In - Post Israel

I'm finally settling back to some semblance of a routine after crossing the pond and experiencing a touch of the homeland. As brief as it was, spending time in Israel deeply moved me in many ways.

The mere nature of the journey (visiting my ailing birth mom) was cause enough for raw emotion, but opening my soul to the treasures of the old city flipped a switch deep inside me. Walking through old Jerusalem sparked an ancient genetic fire within.

The Kotel, or Western Wall, moved me to silent tears. As I slowly approached the wall, I purposefully accepted the reality of my surroundings: Machine gun clad soldiers, tourists, young men and black-hatted datim (religious black-suited Jews). A wall of emotion swallowed me as I reached out and touched the last remnant of Jerusalem's second temple.Inside, I whispered a prayer for my family.

From Wikipedia:

The sages state that anyone who prays in the Temple in Jerusalem, “it is as if he has prayed before the throne of glory because the gate of heaven is situated there and it is open to hear prayer”.^[70] Jewish Law dictates that when Jews pray the Silent Prayer, they should face mizrach, towards Jerusalem, the Temple and ultimately the Holy of Holies,^[71] as all of God’s bounty and blessing emanates from that spot.^[61] According to the Mishna, of all the four walls of the Temple Mount, the Western Wall was the closest to the Holy of Holies^[72] and therefore that to pray by the Wall is particularly beneficial.^[61] Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger writes "since the gate of heaven is near the Western Wall, it is understandable that all Israel's prayers ascend on high there...as one of the great ancient kabbalists Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla said, when the Jews send their prayers from the Diaspora in the direction of Jerusalem, from there they ascend by way of the Western Wall."^[27]

A few minutes later, I entered a cavern adjacent to the Wall. Inside, religious people bent and bobbed with unbridled passion. I scrawled a note on a piece of scratch paper and carefully tucked it in a crack. My hope was that God would read the note in a quiet moment and understand my request.

Maybe it was the nature of my trip, my immediate state of mind, the enormity of the surroundings, a true brush with God or a combination of all, but I was truly touched by my visit to the Kotel. Hopefully, I can return again with my family to share a similar moment.

I would like to thank my brother, Aaron and his children, for sharing time at the Wall with me. Your insights were meaningful.

I'll end with another song from the modern age Mark Twain: Tom Rush, The Urge for Going (by Joni Mitchell).

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