Jewish Seminary Student Should be Expelled
Excerpts from Aron Heller’s article for the Associated Press (in italics):
JERUSALEM – An Israeli newspaper’s decision to publish a handwritten prayer left by Barack Obama in the cracks of Jerusalem’s Western Wall drew criticism Friday as an invasion of his privacy and his relationship with God.
Maariv ran a photograph of the note on its front page Friday. It said the note was removed from the wall by a Jewish seminary student immediately after Obama left.
The paper’s decision to make the note public brought quick criticism from religious authorities. The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, called it an intrusion on Obama’s intimate relationship with God.
“The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them,” Rabinovitz told Army Radio.
The newspaper’s action “damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves,” he added.
This is a horrifying invasion that goes beyond mere privacy. The “Jewish seminary student” has no place in a seminary, leading people in a religious and spiritual setting. He should be immediately expelled and banned from attending any other Jewish seminary. I am utterly horrified by this act. I cannot imagine how this act of treason against God—which is what I believe it is—will do anything to help the man who could be the next American President have a sense of unity with Israel, which is no small matter, even if it is not the largest concern here. That seminary student should be grievously ashamed, as should Maariv.
