Shuvoo Newsletter

Issue 9 – March 16, 2006

 

Thoughts on Ancient Times & Current Events by Ashirah Yosefah

 

AWAKING THE DAWN

Early Morning Underground at The Kotel

 

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Women davening at daybreak, underground in the Western

Wall Tunnels, at Warren’s Gate – the closest point to

the location where the Holy of Holies once stood.

(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)

 

 

“Hear my voice, Hashem, at daybreak; at daybreak I plead before You, and wait.

(Tehillim 9:5)

 

 

Jerusalem is an amazing city.  It is the one city on the face of the earth where the Creator of the Universe, the G-d of Israel, has chosen to place His Name and where, in days to come, His Divine Presence will inhabit the future Temple.  Truthfully, His Presence is always tangible in Jerusalem, especially near The Temple Mount, if one looks beyond the surface of things.

 

Jerusalem affords opportunities that are unique and always memorable; to live here is a great privilege.  Torah learning abounds and celebration of the Feasts is unlike anywhere else.  The sights and sounds along the night-cloaked streets each Friday evening when Shabbat arrives and people enter into its presence are unspeakable joys:  Songs waft through open windows, voices offer up Divrei Torah, and people amble along in a beautiful saunter that I like to call ‘the Shabbos pace’.

 

This city holds a fascination for anyone who honors the G-d of Israel, but most people only experience it on vacation, if at all.  It is for this reason that Shuvoo often shares photos and ‘word-pictures’ of Israel, Jerusalem, our people, and the memorable experiences and events that so often transpire here.

 

Purim festivities have been abundant throughout Israel this week, with costumes and celebration, but there is an aspect of Purim that is unknown to many.  Purim is one of those special times during the Jewish year when tefilah (prayer) has special power and merit.  It is a segulah (a precious, cherished thing) to give particular attention to prayer on Purim.  Of course, when one thinks of prayer, many also think of The Kotel (the Western Wall).  People pray at the Kotel every hour of the day and night, but there are some special times and places of prayer that are not evident to most Kotel visitors.

 

This narrow passageway in the Western

Wall tunnels daily echoes softly with the footsteps

of men and women arriving pre-dawn to pray.

(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)

 

Each morning, in the pre-dawn hours, men and women go underground into the Western Wall tunnels (actually the arched streets of previous ages) to ‘awaken the dawn’, as it were.  Men daven in an underground synagogue that hugs the Western Wall.  The timbre of their voices resonates throughout the tunnels, enabling women to join in the congregational responses to the Kadish and Kedushah prayers.  At the end of the Shacharit services, four times a week, a shofar is sounded that fills the synagogue and the tunnels with its heart-rending tones.  Everyone davening stops and listens in silent, rapt attention.  It is an inspiring way to greet the day.

 

Women line the passage leading to

Warren’s Gate, tucked into every

available nook and cranny.

(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)

 

Women daven in nooks and crannies along the expanse of exposed Wall, below the ground level of the Kotel, but there is one particular spot called Warren’s Gate that is a cherished place to pray.  The small room-like alcove faces a sealed archway that once led onto the Temple Mount at the point closest to the Holy of Holies.  Candles glow warmly along the rear wall, adding to the ambient warmth exuding from women clustered shoulder to shoulder, morning by morning, pouring out their hearts as water before Hashem.  Soft strains of Hebrew rise into the air mingled with sobs, as tears, kisses and fingerprints coat the aged stones of the archway in a veneer of human pain, joy, love and petition.  A silent code of ethics prevails as we each step aside or back to allow another to press as close as possible to that holy stone that will, please G-d, soon be graced with the Third Temple.

 

There is, however, one morning each week that is more special than the rest:  Friday morning – Erev Shabbat.  Let me explain by sharing the treasures I encountered as I entered the tunnels last Friday morning.  Each Thursday evening, men gather in rooms off the tunnels and in the synagogue to study Torah throughout the night, culminating their studies with Neitz, the pre-dawn prayers.  There is an opening in the tunnels close to the Wall where a table and chairs are located.  As I rounded the corner and entered the room on my way to Warren’s Gate, the presence of the men who had studied there through the night was tangible.  The table top was adorned with Siddurim (prayer books).  Disposable coffee cups, some empty, some holding the leftovers of a final cup of java, dotted the table.  I stopped to marvel at the tangible presence of holiness in the room and a shofar began to sound.  Making my way to Warren’s Gate, I quickly discovered the passageway leading to it was filled with women praying.  Every nook was taken.  I slid through into the alcove and bodies parted to allow me to reach the smooth stone wall, to bestow a kiss and prayer of greeting, then I wound my way back to the Ezrat Nashim (a women’s hall) above the synagogue.  Looking through the lattice mechitzah, the site of the shul below filled with men davening and animatedly, but softly, discussing the fruit of their night’s study was a spectacular treat for my still sleepy eyes.  Later, it was as if a tide had ebbed, then flowed.  The men present at my arrival departed and a wave of newcomers arrived:  Many of them fathers with their sons.  Peering through the mechitzah, I looked on as a father watched his bar mitzvah age son wrap tefillin.  The joy and pride upon the father’s face brought tears to my eyes; it was too exquisite for words.

 

Jerusalem is an astounding place; the Temple Mount is its crown.  The physical condition of that ‘crown’ is not what we would desire at present, but our hope is strong for the restoration of the Temple Mount to its full splendor, may it be in our lifetime.  There are sights and sounds in this holy place that strengthen our hope and give us courage, even when hearts pour out tears of pain through the words of our prayers.

 

Judaism is a faith, a way of life that has survived throughout the centuries because of the bonds of Torah and tradition.  The daily prayer services are one of those traditions that represent the service of the heart and replace the daily sacrifices in the absence of the Temple. 

 

“Instead of bulls we will pay [the offering of] of lips.” (Hoshea 14:3)

 

May this glimpse into early morning prayer amidst the stones of Western Wall Tunnels grant you a sense of the inner beauty of the Kotel, a beauty crafted throughout the ages by the daily service of the heart.

 

“Let me learn of your faithfulness by daybreak, for in You I trust;

let me know the road I must take, for on You I have set my hope.”

(Tehillim 143:8)