If you were in Jerusalem on Wednesday, perhaps you witnessed what tens of thousands had at the Western Wall, the traditional blessings of the priests. This spectacular event was founded 52 years ago after the liberation of the Western Wall during the 6-Day-War and it takes place both on the holiday of Sukkot and Passover. As part of it, hundreds of priests, or โKohanimโ in Hebrew, bless the thousands of worshippers.
Priestly blessings in Judaism have been a vital part of the religion for thousands of years. In the late 1960โs it became customary to gather twice a year at the closest point to the ancient Israelite temple and recite the blessings. Some, even take advantage of the limited hours that Jews are allowed to ascend to the top of the Temple mount and hear the priestly blessing from the base of what was the holy temple. This custom is also based on ancient Israelites that would head to Jerusalem three times a year to offer sacrifices to God and receive blessings from the high priests at the entrance to the Temple.
While a group of us were touring OUR heritage site, and future home of a third temple (sing ืืื ื ืืืงืืฉ up there and they throw you out) - tens of thousands of Jews were praying below. pic.twitter.com/ZQyIKt4A28
โ Jay Engelmayer | #JusticeforMalkiRoth (@jengelmayer) September 26, 2021
The blessings of the priests go as the following: "May the Lord bless you and keep you, May the Lord open His face to you and guide you, May the Lord lift up His face to you and give you peace."
As part of the preparations for the mass prayer, the Jerusalem Police increased activity around the Old City. The police asked visitors to avoid arriving in the Old City area during the holidays in private vehicles and recommended using public transportation. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that hundreds of thousands are expected to visit the Western Wall during the holidays. Throughout the month of September, about a million people visited the Western Wall to pray for forgiveness from God ahead of the Yom Kippur fast in what is known as the Selichot prayers.
I joined tens of thousands this morning at the Kotel for Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly blessing).
โ Meira ืืืืจื (@MeiraHShem) October 12, 2022
Sukkot is one of the 3 biblical pilgrimage festivals to the temple in Jerusalem.
Walking with my people to the Kotel, I felt like I was experiencing the pilgrimage 3000 years ago ๐ pic.twitter.com/vn0JQJNG8t
Wednesday evening saw another mass gathering that took place in honor of the end of Shmita, which is a 7-year agricultural cycle that observant Jews use to allow the land to rest. The ceremony is also in sync with a tradition that has roots going back thousands of years.
During the gathering Wednesday evening, three new donated Torah scrolls were added to the Western Wall plaza Synagogue. The President of Israel, along with the current and former chief rabbis were in attendance.
Israeli opposition leader Netanyahu, Israelโs President Isaac Herzog, US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides on stage together in front of a packed crowd at the Kosel (Western Wall) tonight along with Gedolei Yisroel. pic.twitter.com/HLjJQkH6GT
โ Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) October 12, 2022
The rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said that "in the congregational that took place in the Temple once every seven years at the end of the Shmita year, the people would go up to Jerusalem to unite in the holy place and hear the words of the Torah. Today we do the same. May there be Peace in the country and peace in the world. We will pray for all to be connected to each other and belong to each other in unity, in brotherhood, in holiness, and in love. We have one tradition, we have one heritage, and we must be one and united people."
