Steven Waldman concludes his post on the publication of Barack Obama’s Western Wall prayer note, with a request for responses to the candidate’s prayer. So here is mine: It’s a perfectly appropriate spiritual offering which even reflects many poetic formatics of traditional Jewish prayer.
Obama’s prayer began with the needs of others before turning to his own. He acknowledges that he is not without sin and makes a point of articulating which two of them he must be currently wrestling with. And for those who would have liked an exhaustive list, think again. How many sins can any of us deal with at a single moment?
Obama concludes with the awareness that being right and being just are often two different things, and that he hopes for both. That insight alone is worth sharing with the world. How often do we allow our sense of what is right, i.e. the way we think things should be, to harden our hearts about what is equitable and just? In Hebrew prayer it is why we use both the words tzedek and mishpat to capture that distinction.
The fact that it is a lesson worth sharing though, in no way excuses this violation of one of the most personal and intimate conversations that one can have. And that is what prayer is, whether it is with a God in the sky, or one who hangs out by a wall, or with your own inner voice. It’s just wrong to have made that public, and totally against the tradition of such prayer notes offered at the Wall.
And since “Reaganite in NYC” asked, about the distinction between the Wailing Wall and the Western Wall, I will explain. There is none. They are the same place. The name Western Wall refers to the fact that the current site is a portion of the western wall which ran along the base of the Jerusalem Temple during the first century BCE reign of King Herod the Great.
The name Wailing Wall refers to the tears that have accompanied the prayers of millions over thousands of years. And it may also be a reference to the ancient rabbis who taught that after the rest of the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE; all the gates of heaven were locked, except the gate of tears, through which prayer could always be heard.
Both that wall and the tears shed there are reminders to all people that even when we think all is lost, and all the vehicles, institutions and traditions that we know have failed, we always have within us the ability to offer a prayer and any place can be the right place for doing so.
Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
posted July 25, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Composed privately, through cmpaign advisors, or straight from St. Francis of Assisi, Obama placed a prayer in the Wall. Prayers placed in the cracks of the Wall, any supplications made at the Wall, are a direct stream between the individual and G-d. They are sacred, as the Wall is sacred. How dare students take a prayer from anyone? They have desecrated the holiness of the event and the place.
posted July 25, 2008 at 7:47 pm
The person who took Obama’s prayer out of the WAll had no respect for the tradition of the Wall. It is a sacred location and the prayers inserted into it are to be known only to the author and their God. The paper that published it also has no respect for Obama or the Wall’s tradition.
posted July 26, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Stealing a prayer from the Western Wal is wrong and publishing it is more wrong. When I read this prayer on the Internet I am reminded how little respect Jews have for historic preservation of true facts. For example the Israelies have scale models of the temple they will build after they tear down the Dome of the Rock which was built in 678 AD. Does the United States need a president who is going to help the Israelis forget the Dome of the Rock?
posted July 26, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Obama is not to be trusted by the jews. Coming from a moslem heritage, he will turn against the jews as fast as he got there. His visit to Israel is just a political ploy. We shall not trust him.
posted July 26, 2008 at 1:10 pm
TO PAUL DAHAN-we know he did this for politics-we are not stupid.
That is also why we will place no value in what you said about his heritage and his future actions.
If he WAS a person who once had or does have family who do not share his Christian faith so what-and if it was Muslim that MIGHT make him more likely to bend over backwards to help Jewish causes to prove his
not being prjudiced and help get him more votes in Congress and help get him re-elected.
I do not know exactly how the prayer came to be known. It could have been by someone on his staff who just knew what the prayer would be.
IF IT WAS STOLEN-SHAME ON THE PERP.
posted July 26, 2008 at 5:25 pm
As a believer, I am praying that we will finally have a President who has a real relationship with the Lord. Not someone who is stuck in dumb idealogy like the Pharisees of old. Barack H. Obama, Next President of these United States, Lord I truly pray.
posted July 26, 2008 at 8:21 pm
PD, Obama isn’t a Muslim and his father who left when he was 2, wasn’t a practicing Muslim. In fact, he was a confirmed atheist. His step-father was Muslim but apparently was more Hindu than Muslim.
His Mom was not a fan of organized religion but had been raised as a Christian and saw the value in teaching him about different ones. She took him and his 1/2 sister to different houses of worship…Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant etc. From what I have read, I would classify Obama as a liberal Christian. He himself said he is a Christian.
posted July 27, 2008 at 10:53 am
It is tradition and respect to visit the wailing wall while in Jerusalem. The prayer being removed is blasphemy to that tradition, regardless of whose it is. When, pray tell, did he ever state that he would “help the Israelis forget the Dome of Rock”? That is simply asinine, as is that he is “moslem”. You people know nothing about this guy other that the neo con garbage you read. Going to Israel and connecting with middle east leaders is a pro-active diplomatic move. Don’t blame them for all the problems you perceive in the world and then discount gestures to resolve them.
posted July 27, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Wonderful, on a Jewish blog we have anti-Semitic comments like “Not someone who is stuck in dumb idealogy like the Pharisees of old.”. (Jews are the descendent’s of the Pharisees Shedee – you just insulted the entire Jewish people)
posted July 27, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Why is Eileen’s comment that Jews have no respect for humanity allowed to stand on a JEWISH BLOG, but my calling her out is not?
posted July 28, 2008 at 2:26 am
At the wall Obama use what he had been taught from the old Testament to be aware of judism. All christians are relate to Judism through the old testament teaching.
posted July 28, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I think it is horrible of the Jewish student to steal a private prayer from a holy site and for the media to publish the prayer. Both are unthinkable and horrible. I believe the religious leaders should speak out on the actions to prevent future occurences.
Joe M. Thompson
Heathsville, Virginia