Western Wall Prayers…for a Price
Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim
Organizations advertise a service to pray at the Western Wall—sometimes through “entitled” people or Rabbis—as if they can assure God will respond. Others advertise a promise to find mates for singles. But it is evil to make a promise, that only God can assure. It is evil to withhold prayers unless being paid. It is evil to go against our principles outlined in our Selichos prayers below that God hears righteous people from anywhere:
He Who answered our father Abraham on Mount Moriah, He will answer us.
He Who answered Isaac, his son, when he was bound on the altar, He will answer us.
He Who answered Jacob in Beth El, He will answer us.
He Who answered Joseph in prison, He will answer us.
He Who answered our ancestors at the Reed Sea, He will answer us.
He Who answered Moses at Horeb, He will answer us.
He Who answered Aaron with the incense pan, He will answer us.
He Who answered Pinchas when he rose from among the congregation, He will answer us.
He Who answered Joshua at Gilgal, He will answer us.
He Who answered Samuel at Mizpah, He will answer us.
He Who answered David, and Solomon, his son, in Jerusalem, He will answer us.
He Who answered Elijah on Mount Carmel, He will answer us.
He Who answered Elisha in Jericho, He will answer us.
He Who answered Jonah in the belly of the whale, He will answer us.
He Who answered Hezekiah, King of Judah, in his illness, He will answer us.
He Who answered Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in the midst of the fiery furnace, He will answer us.
He Who answered Daniel in the lions’ den, He will answer us.
He Who answered Mordecai and Esther in Shushan, the capital, He will answer us.
He Who answered Ezra in captivity, He will answer us.
He Who answered all the righteous, the pious, the perfect and the upright, He will answer us.
The belief that praying at the Wall ensures a response is discounted easily by all those unanswered notes and prayers. Jews have sorely forgotten a fundamental Torah principle: God helps a person based on their merit, and not based on where they pray. Maimonides 13 Foundations of Judaism include “Reward and Punishment.” Torah bears this out. God helps all righteous people, and punishes the wicked. The Western Wall or any location does not make one more or less righteous. And those who seek payment for prayers and make empty promises violate Torah, and are deceptive crooks.