75,000 Gather at Western Wall for Priestly Blessing
Image by getty images
Image by getty images
More than 75,000 people gathered at the Western Wall for the Priestly Blessing ceremony.
The worshippers converged on Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday for the blessing, called Birkat Kohanim in Hebrew, during the second intermediate day of Passover. The blessing also is held on Succot and Shavuot, the other of the Shalosh Regalim, or pilgrimage festivals, when the Jews would ascend to the Holy Temple.
Hundreds of Kohanim held up their hands and blessed the worshippers, including many visitors from the Diaspora.
The Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Rabbi David Lau, as well as the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, greeted visitors to the wall after the services.
The Israel Police put on extra units and employed additional security measures in the Old City of Jerusalem for the event.
“The pilgrimage to Israel is an impressive testament to the Jewish People’s attachment to the remnant of our Temple; when the masses of Israel come to touch its stones,” Rabinovich said in a statement.”This joyous sight of the masses of Israel completely filling the streets is somehow reminiscent of ancient times when crowds of pilgrims would come to see and be seen. More than a commemoration of the Temple’s destruction, it is a commemoration of the Temple itself.”
Meanwhile, visits by Jews to the Temple Mount reportedly were limited then halted Monday morning after an influx of Muslim worshipers.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
