Jul 23, 2018

thankfully Hashem took out his anger on the stones and not on the people.

A very frightening and unusual event happened at the Kotel this morning. A Kotel stone fell out of the wall and onto the floor in front of it. Thankfully nobody was hurt. The stone fell out in the Ezrat Yisrael section (aka the Reform Kotel), and a woman who was praying there ran off frightened after it happened.

Here is a video clip of the front half of the stone falling out onto the platform:


very frightening. those are big and heavy stones. It can do a lot of damage.



Thankfully the statement put out by Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, rav of the Kotel, did not put spiritual blame on any one person or group, and thankfully he says the experts are going to investigate the incident. I hope they do a full survey of all the stones across the entire Kotel and ensure they are safe and solid and cemented in properly so we don't witness a more tragic re-occurrence of this, God forbid..

As the Medrash in Eicha Rabba (4:14) says, "כך אמרו לאסף הקדוש ברוך הוא החריב היכל ומקדש ואתה יושב ומזמר? אמר להם: מזמר אני ששפך הקדוש ברוך הוא חמתו על העצים ועל האבנים, ולא שפך חמתו על ישראל"





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5 comments:

  1. This was a sign from Heaven; it fell on the Egaliterian side. Sure they learned nothing!

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  2. U said the kotel is cemented. The kotel is not cemented. The weight of the stones above keep each stone in place (except for the higher and smaller more modern stones)

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    Replies
    1. if they put this stone back in I am sure they will cement it in (or whatever material they use). and if they find other cracked or loose stones, they will secure it as well with cement or other similar materials

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  3. While the medrash you cited is definitely appropriate, I also like Rav Lau's positive spin. He said it's very significant that right after Tisha B'Av we now must re-attach this stone which should be the 1st step in rebuilding the Beis Hamikdash.

    video in link:
    https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5315373,00.html#autoplay

    ReplyDelete