Rabbis pray at Western Wall for Trump’s recovery
(JTA) — Leading Israeli rabbis prayed at the Western Wall for President Donald Trump’s recovery from the coronavirus.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, recited a traditional Jewish prayer for healing on Trump’s behalf on Monday morning, days after the American president announced he had contracted the virus. Israel’s two chief rabbis were also in attendance, as were U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon.
The prayer asked God to heal the president using the traditional Hebrew formulation “Donald John, son of Fred.”
The prayer came during the traditional recitation of Birkat Kohanim, or the “priestly blessing,” which typically attracts tens of thousands of people to the Western Wall. Numbers were limited this year to those who live within about a half-mile of the site.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
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— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
