Discussions at the Kotel

I expect to have many interesting conversations in the presence of the Kotel this year and I will share them in posts by this title. 


After Shabbat dinner on Friday night, I wandered down to the Kotel with Jay (roommate, cantorial), Manda (my friend from working at Hillel, rabbinical), Lindsay (rabbinical), and Lauren (cantorial). (As I refer to people in this blog I will put the context by which I know them or the program they are in at HUC in brackets by means of introduction. Once they're introduced I will not repeat this in the future.) As we walked through the Mamilla Mall to the Old City and through the roads that lead us there, we began to discuss the Kotel, it's meaning to the Jewish world and the impact (if any) that it has on us. 


This blog will now be interrupted for an....Hey, I Know You!
While walking to the wall Manda bumped into a friend of hers who was walking with Nina Kagan - who was a few years behind me at York - and Maria Abramov - who was a friend of my sister's at Associated.


Once we got to the Kotel, Jay, Lindsay, and Lauren went into the men and women's sections respectively and Manda and I took a seat on the ground just a bit away from these entrances. I love the Kotel late at night. It's fairly empty and it looks magnificent being lit against the dark sky. Manda and I discussed the fact that this place is built up as a place of deep spiritual importance but for many it has no effect - a scenario that we often have to address on Birthright trips. I am not drawn to pray at the wall, this may change as my relationship with prayer changes, but for now I do not feel the urge. However, even when it is not late at night and empty, I really love simply sitting in its presence and observing what goes on there, occasionally getting lost in the beauty of the ancient Jerusalem stone. 


As beautiful as this place is, it also has flaws and they are not subtle. The Kotel highlights issues inequality in Judaism, as the men's section takes up 2/3 of the space and the women receive 1/3 that is infringed upon by scaffolding. Some will argue in support of this by pointing out that more men than women pray at the wall warranting more space, while others will argue against it implying that perhaps more women would pray if they could find the space. 


We sat as a group of Jewish leaders in training and debated the good and the bad of this holy site. We debated and shared our thoughts and hopes for this place. It is a great thing to be engaging with our surroundings and considering them in terms of the degrees we are pursuing and I think this is one of the key reasons why we find ourselves in Israel for a year.