Prayers for Mashiach

JERUSALEM—Shops closed and buses ground to a halt in downtown Jerusalem Monday evening. On Tuesday, the typically hectic Ben Yehuda Street was silent save for the occasional pedestrian and a self-proclaimed guide offering to take tourists to Bethlehem. Restaurants along the street—typically bustling at midday serving schnitzel, falafel, shawarma, and soups—were now silent.

Monday evening marked the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As on Shabbat, or Sabbath, the city shuts down during the holiday. The two-day festival is a time of contemplation and repentance—when the blowing of a shofar, or ram’s horn, replaces the sound of car horns and pop music on the city streets. The observant partake of sweet treats like apples, dates, and honey as they anticipate God’s sweetness to them in the coming year. Many go to the Western Wall in the Old City to pray and express their hopes for the new year to bring peace, safety, and the coming of Mashiach, or Messiah.

New beginnings

At the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the site began to fill as worshippers gathered to repent and prepare for the new year.

“Rosh Hashanah literally means ‘head of the year,’” said Rabbi Shmuli Weiss. “What it means to us as Jewish people is that the new year is a new beginning, a new opportunity. … So God is judging to see what man did in this past year and how we’re going to perfect ourselves and have a better year this coming year.”

In the Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah marks the creation of Adam, the first human being, according to the Book of Genesis. To practicing Jews the holiday is not just Adam’s birthday, but the birthday of the human race.

Mordechai Pogorelsky was at the wall, struggling to open a bottle of Schweppes that eventually bubbled out over his hands. In a booming Russian accent, he said the New Year’s celebration is about recognizing royalty.

“In Rosh Hashanah, we—how you say in one word? We give the crown to the king. … We make God our king. We have to think that Hashem is our king, and we are nothing,” he said, using the Hebrew term for “the name.”

“We just have to do His will. We are nothing and He is everything.”

A close-up view of the Western Wall WORLD News Group / Image by Travis K. Kircher

Hopes and prayers

Rosh Hashanah is also a time of looking forward to the new year, with prayers that God will make it sweet with happiness, prosperity, and new adventures. Jonathan Amram says this is the thought behind the holiday’s tradition of eating apples dipped in honey.

“It’s kind of like subliminal marketing, right?” he said. “You go around and you see a Coca-Cola commercial all the time and you start thinking, ‘I want a Cola-Cola!’ Well, you keep having all these little sweet things around and they subconsciously kind of get you into the understanding that it’s a sweet day of goodness, of joy, to be alive.”

An Israeli soldier, Elisha Franco, like many, had specific wishes for what that sweetness will be.

“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,” said Franco, who serves in a combat engineering unit.

Doron Ben Avraham grew up in Chicago. Thirty years ago he immigrated to Israel, where he married another immigrant from Morocco. He said he’s praying, first and foremost, for himself and his family to move closer to God and be blessed with health and prosperity, so they can bless others. He also pointed to nearby soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.

“My son is an active soldier on duty with the IDF, so all the soldiers that I see here are like my children,” he said. “Literally, they’re sons. So we pray for their safety.”

Israel Defense Forces soldiers at the Western Wall on Sunday. WORLD News Group / Image by Travis K. Kircher

Prayers for a Deliverer

Many at the Western Wall expressed their hope that the new year would bring about the unveiling of Mashiach, the Jewish Messiah. While Christians believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah to make redemption possible for mankind, many Jews still look for a Messiah to redeem them from spiritual and physical bondage.

“The Messianic Age is when the Son of David—the Messiah, the Son of David—comes and can rule the heavens and the earth here from Jerusalem and bring peace to the whole world,” Avraham said. “And the Temple will be reestablished. We don’t know how. Will we rebuild it, or will it be something that God will send miraculously? But it will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Ohad Damari, a devoutly religious Jew, said this year’s Rosh Hashanah celebration hits differently.

“We’re in exile,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we’re not in the land. We’re in the land, but exile means a spiritual exile. And when the Messiah comes, hopefully soon in my days, God will be revealed in some sort of way to the whole world. And everyone will know who God is.”

Damari became emotional when he considered the Western Wall itself and his belief that the Messiah would restore the Temple Mount.

“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,” he said.

Deena Hoffstatter is an American Jewish student spending a year in Israel. When asked how she believed she and others would recognize the Messiah, she answered without hesitation.

“I think we’ll know. We’ll just know.”

Hope in Yeshua

But not everyone at the Western Wall is looking for a new Messiah. Jordena Koes was a Hungarian pilgrim and a Christian, a follower of Yeshua—that is, Jesus.

“I came [from] Budapest this year to pray for peace, pray for Jerusalem, and pray for Israel—that they succeed in every war they need to and there will be peace finally in Israel and in the whole Middle East,” she said.

Koes added that she was also praying for the Jewish people to realize the Messiah has already come in the person of Jesus Christ. Part of that realization, she said, means trusting in the grace Christ offers through His sacrifice on the cross—rather than adherence to Jewish law—to become right with God.

“It’s like falling into grace,” she said. “You cannot be perfect even if you try, but you find that love of God, love of Yeshua, and love of grace, I think it gives you a kind of mental peace in your mind. … You just have to follow Him, and you just have to enjoy His love.”

Rivo Rajando, from Estonia, also described himself as a believer in Yeshua. He had a similar prayer for the Jews to rejoice in Christ.

“I’m hoping for their awakening,” he said. “Guys like me are not able to ignite it … but I’m waiting guard in prayer.”

Women at prayer near the Western Wall on Sunday. WORLD News Group / Image by Travis K. Kircher