Celebrating Succot In Front of Hashem in Jerusalem

(Posted from Israel after completion of the first Yom Tov of Succot)

Every year Israel hosts a huge biennial Bircat Cohanim (priestly blessing) in the center of Jerusalem, at the Kotel (Western Wailing Wall). This payer, attended by tens of thousands of people from around the world occurs during Chol Hamoed (the interim days) of the holiday of Succot and the holiday of Pesach. This year the large central Bircat Cohanim takes place on Wednesday, September 26th. The Succot holiday commemorates the time when the Jewish Nation made our way from Egypt, through the desert and back to our homeland of Israel. In the Torah the nation is commanded to gather together during the holiday in the Jewish capital city of Jerusalem and take the Lulav and Etrog set before Hashem. It is a joyous time where Jerusalem takes center stage for Jews around the world.

Image for illustrative purposes only. Photo Credit: DYKT Mohigan [License]

Jewish worshipers flock to the Western Wall in Jerusalem

Article Courtesy: Arutz Sheva 2016

At the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Jewish worshipers have gathered from all over the world and all of Israel to await Birkat HaCohanim, the Priestly Blessing, in which Cohanim, who are descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, face the congregation and recite the Priestly Blessing found in the Book of Numbers.

All morning worshipers have been flocking en masse to the Western Wall, the last vestige of the outer wall of the first century Herodian Second Temple compound.
Police and security are guarding the area and in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City where there has been a record number of visitors.

All entrances to the Old City have been blocked to vehicular traffic and the public is arriving at the Wall on foot.

The Priestly Blessing is said by Cohanim at daily synagogue services in Israel but only on holidays in the Diaspora, and consists of the following verses:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you and grant you peace.’”

The custom of having a mass Priestly Blessing at the Kotel on Sukkot and Passover was initiated by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall, responded yesterday to the UNESCO decision claiming that the Temple Mount and the Western Wall have no Jewish connection, by saying that, “In all of world history I don’t know of an ‘occupying power’ whose land is full of the relics of its ancestors. The holiness of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall for the Jewish people goes back many generations. It does not need anyone’s approval. It is ridiculous to deny the (archaeological) discoveries that are occurring all the time.”

“The millions of worshipers who come to pray at the Western Wall in front of the Temple Mount are the Jewish answer to UNESCO,” he said.

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