Controversy has erupted regarding Sen. Barack Obama's recent trip to Israel, because an Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, published the note Obama put in the Kotel. Many people, including the staff of Yedihot Aharonot, a newspaper that also obtained Obama's note but decided not to publish it, feel that making Obama's note public ruins the private, spiritual nature of placing a personal prayer in Judaism's holiest site. Western Wall rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz and others have criticized the note's publicity. According to AP, Rabinovitz told Army Radio, "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." Rabiovitz also said the publication "damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to...

Continue reading