Sometimes People Go Too Far

There is a tradition in Judaism to place a prayer in the Western Wall. It is said that this prayer will go directly to G-d. These prayers are personal, between the person and G-d. And unless the person actually tells or shows it to another, they should never be revealed to anyone.

The Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv broke this unwritten rule. A student at the wall took down Barack Obama's prayer and gave (sold) it to the paper. No matter what your political beliefs are, this was wrong.

Ma'ariv published a photograph of the note on its front page on Friday. It said the note was removed from the wall by a student at a Jewish seminary immediately after Obama left. In the note, placed at Judaism's holiest site, Obama asks God to guide him and guard his family.

The paper's decision to make the note public immediately drew fire from religious authorities. The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, said publishing the note intruded on Obama's intimate relationship with God.
"It's inappropriate that the prayers of a person at the Western Wall should become a subject of public knowledge at all," said Jonathan Rosenblum, a Jerusalem-based analyst of the religious community and director of the Orthodox Am Ehad think-tank, and Jerusalem Post columnist. "There is a rabbinic prohibition against reading other people's private communications and certainly anyone who goes to the wall expects that those communication will be protected."

Another Israeli paper, Yediot Aharonot, published an article Friday saying it had also obtained the note but decided not to publish it, to respect Obama's privacy. Nearly all other Israeli media outlets ignored the story.

"The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them," he told Army Radio. The publication "damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves," he said.

The wall is emptied of its notes several times a year. These are treated as a prayer book and buried, rather than burned.

I myself have put prayers into the Wall and have friends who live in Jerusalem who will do so for me if I ask. My friends know the prayers, but no one else does. This is as it should be.

Ma'ariv may have broken the law when it published this prayer. It should not only run a front page apology to Senator Obama in Hebrew and English, but be made to pay a fine for such a transaction.


In addition, calls are being made for the public to boycott the paper until it does.

"With its actions, in my opinion, the newspaper broke several clauses of the 1967 Preservation of Holy Sites Law and violated rights based on Basic Law - Respect for Man and his Freedom," wrote Elon.

In addition, Elon called for a consumer boycott of the newspaper until it publishes an apology to Obama.

"I declare a consumer protest against Ma'ariv starting today. I urge all MKs, ministers, judges, soldiers and other public sector officials to freeze or cancel their subscriptions to Ma'ariv in the coming month," he wrote.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich condemned the removal of the note.

"Notes placed in the Wall are removed twice a year, on the eve of the Jewish New Year and Pessah, and placed in a special repository for religious items, under supervision to keep them hidden from human eyes," he said in a statement.

"Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way. The custom of placing notes between the stones of the Western Wall is ancient and is used as a means of expression by a person praying to his Creator.

"This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site."

On Sunday, Rabinovich returned the note to the Kotel.

And we at Monkey in the Middle condemn the removal and publication of this note. This was a private moment between Senator Obama and G-d, one that should not have been violated. Nor will we publish the note or its contents. It would be wrong.