Prayers at the Western Wall

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: prayers for peace.

At sundown last night, Jewish communities around the world began a celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

In Jerusalem, that means prayer and reflection at the Western Wall. WORLD’s Travis Kircher was there to hear the voices of those who gathered.

SOUND: [PRAYERS AT WESTERN WALL]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Crowds slowly gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon, ahead of the evening’s selichot prayers, prayers for forgiveness. As Aron Jofen says, it’s the last chance to repent before Rosh Hashanah.

JOFEN: That day everybody is coming close. Everybody is coming begging for forgiveness, for God to help them. To help them get better mans, to get closer. And they want to be closer. They love Him.

Jews believe Rosh Hashanah marks the day Adam was created in the Garden of Eden, and thus is the birthday, not just of the Jews, but of the entire human race.

WEISS: It’s a holiday, a two-day holiday.

Shmuli Weiss is a rabbi in Jerusalem. He says Rosh Hashanah is both a celebration of new beginnings and a time of judgment.

WEISS: It’s observed by mainly praying and listening to the blowing the shofar. A shofar is a ram’s horn. We blow it to waken up ourselves to realize that Hashem is in charge…

“Hashem,” means “the name” referring to the God of the Old Testament.

For some, like Ohad Damari, preparing for Rosh Hashanah is a sobering experience. He says this year, things just don’t feel right.

DAMARI: I feel that this place is not what it should be right now. We see this wall now and it’s not in its full glory and I wish to be there on the day where I can see God’s full glory here and fully built – the third temple.

Most everyone at the Wall has something they’re praying for, even those in the military. Elisha Franco of an Israeli Defense Forces combat engineering unit sums it up well:

FRANCO: I’m praying for a good Rosh Hashanah, a good new year, a sweet new year, bringing all the hostages home and keeping everyone safe.

SOUND: [PRAYER SERVICE]

Soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday ahead of Rosh Hashanah. Photo by Travis K. Kircher

But there are other prayers too. When I asked several religious Jews what’s on their wish list this year, there’s one word that kept popping up:

BERG: Really, for Mashiach to come.

POGORELSKY: I hope that Mashiach will come… ]

HOFFSTATTER: Mashiach. Just Mashiach.

Mashiach, or Messiah. While Christians say He’s already come, many practicing Jews are still looking.

POGORELSKY: Our redeemer will come very soon and all the problems in the world will finish. All the wars and all the illness and hungry and all the problems will disappear and we’ll have the redemption!

But among the worshippers at the wall are also followers of Yeshua, Jesus. Like Rivo Rajundo of Estonia. Rajundo says he loves the Jewish people and he’s praying more come to know Christ as their Mashiach.

RAJUNDO: I’m hoping for their awakening, but knowing at the same time that it has like the appointed time of this.

And so as many are striving to better themselves before God for this new year by obeying the rules, Rajundo is resting in grace.

RAJUNDO: The believers in Yeshua do not need to obey all of the halakha or all the Mosaic law in this way as it’s written in the Old Testament because Yeshua has done it for us already, but if we are in the Spirit—in the Holy Spirit—we are obeying it.

Reporting for WORLD I’m Travis Kircher at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

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