Ping.
Posted on 07/02/2002 9:55:20 AM PDT by kattracks
Water began dripping among the stones of the Western Wall several days ago, media reports say.
The water was discovered on the upper right side of the Western Wall, on the men's side of the plaza, the Itim news agency says.
Antiquities Authority and Religious Affair Ministry officials visited the site on Sunday, but published their findings only today.
The water has so far dampened a 40 centimeter section of the wall.
Shmuel Rabinovich, the rabbi of the Western Wall, urged the Religious Affairs Ministry and Antiquities Authority to trace the source of the water.
They are considering an appeal to the Muslim authorities or Wakf to examine whether water pipes running under the Temple Mount, behind the Western Wall, are leaking, Itim reports.
According to Jewish tradition, water flowing from the Western Wall is a sign of redemption.
Rabbi Rabinovich commented:
"It isn't my custom to offer an interpretation of traditions such as this, or any other, concerning flowing water - our task is to determine the source of the flow, and that is what we have undertaken."
Rabinovich emphasized that this unusual occurence will not effect prayers at the Wall, where hundreds of worshipers have been gathering each day during the three-week period before Tisha B'Av.
Can anyone elaborate on this tradition?
Thanks!!
I wasn't aware of anything anyone in Israel needed redemption. After all, it's the blessed state of Israel, blessed by the Almighty Himself.
Who's with me?
Not directly. However, we can probably guess.
The OT is a very "thirsty" book -- it's full of allusions to water/salvation and drought/damnation. Given the desert environs, it's pretty easy to see how such a tradition would arise.
The idea of water flowing out of the Western Wall brings to mind the episodes in Exodus 17 or Numbers 20. The Israelites (bitching as usual) are without water, but God delivers them by having Moses strike the rock with his staff, whereupon water begins to flow.
And then consider the implications of water flowing through the last standing stones of the Temple. It brings to mind the rebuilding of the Temple after the exile, with this flowing water acting as a sign of redemption (just as redemption preceded the ancient rebuilding of the Temple of which the West Wall was a part).
Consider the other side of the notion of water coming through the last remaining stones of the Temple.
Could this be a weakening of the wall?
Ping.
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