Obama is seeking public office. I have a right to know what Obama wrote because I am a TAXPAYER!
This exactly expresses my thoughts too. That was a really awful thing to do.
For Obama’s prayer. Thirty pieces of silver sounds about right.
More than an invasion of privacy by the student and by the paper, it’s a violation of religious principle. EddyTeddyFreddy has it right, in that the burial of the prayers twice a year is definitely an indication of how far over the line this is and Gala Matrix Fire’s equation of this to revealing the contents of a religious confession is exactly right too.
Good prayer. It’s got a beat. You can dance to it.
It was a total violation of privacy to have lifted it and subsequently published it, but it remains an interesting insight. He didn’t pray to win the election, he didn’t even pray for the Cubs. He prayed for the safety of his family.
Now I gotta say, it also crossed my mind to wonder: did he know it would be lifted and taken? Senator Obama seems to be very poised in public; he speaks as if he knows we’re always listening. The man’s got a Blackberry or some damn thing, so he must be aware of the technology that makes 24/7 scrutiny of his every move possible. (On the other hand, Senator McCain speaks like a concussed kitten standing on a turntable. Does he not realize that we can provide videotape evidence every time he changes his mind?)
I figure it went down like this: a couple people in his campaign are talking it over:
Campaigner 1. Okay, the paper bit is nice, but what if somebody steals it?
Campaigner 2. It’ll never happen.
Campaigner 1. No, but suppose it does.
Campaigner 2. It’s totally against the rules. Nobody would dare look at what the paper says.
Campaigner 1. Yeah, but suppose it does. It could happen. The last thing we need is to pull a Gary Hart, here, and get caught with our pants down. On the one-in-a-zillion chance that someone nicks the paper, we need to make sure that Barack’s prayer has been properly vetted…
Senator O. All right, fine. (hands over the paper)
Campaigner 2. What… is… this?
Senator O. My prayer.
Campaigner 1. (reads it) “The money’s in the…” That’s your prayer?
Senator O. No, I’m just kidding. Look guys, I’m not letting you approve my prayers. I’ll just write something.
One of the first reactions on reading this was to wonder how long it would take the whackjob blogosphere to latch on to this section of the prayer. I mean, it’s almost the same as declaring himself a “slave of God,” which is how a devout you-know-what will sometimes describe himself. Finally, we have proof positive that he’s one of THEM!!!
As far as the retrieval is concerned, I would liken it to a Christian seminarian relieving himself on Golgotha, or at the site of Christ’s tomb. IANAJ, but I would imagine that the Western Wall is one of the most hallowed sites in Judaism — at any rate, if there’s a more revered one, I can’t think of it.
(Hijack: one of the more poignant pictures to come out of the 1967 war was of the first Israeli soldiers to reach the Wall. Grown men, in full battle gear, embracing the wall with tears streaming down their faces. I doubt that I’ll ever forget it.)
Does anybody know how the prayers in the wall are disposed of? With hundreds of thousands if not millions of people leaving messages every year I wouldn’t think there’s any way they can all remain there, so they must be cleaned out occasionally.
Psssst, Sampiro, post #15.
Ah, sorry.
I thought that was referring to rabbis burying naked pictures of Scarlett Johannsen.
Man, it’s lucky he didn’t write it in his native language, Arabic. Imagine the reaction.
just joking
My problem with it is less that it disrespects Obama’s privacy and more that it’s disrespectful to the millions of people to whom the Western Wall is the holiest site in the world. I’d say it’s worse than eavesdropping on a confession – more in line with eavesdropping on a confession to the Pope. I’m not an observant Jew, though, so it’s possible I’m overstating things.
Anyway, I wouldn’t necessarily think Obama would assume the prayer would be published, but he’s probably saavy enough to have at least considered the possibility. But I’m not so sure this would have affected the content of his prayer. Does anyone really think Obama’s usual prayers are so shocking or offensive that he’d have to modify them to make them acceptable to the public? Well, the ultra-right wingers probably do, but I mean anyone sane.
I’m surprised that twice yearly is adequate.
That’s probably why it didn’t end with, “Let me kick McCain’s ass in November.”
As a somewhat-observant Jew, who (in my childhood) sent a prayer to the Western wall (and we were told then that they would only be read by God), I am completely appalled by this, both as an invasion of privacy and as a huge violation of religious principle. I agree with those comparing it to the violation of the confessional in Catholicism.
I can’t believe an Israeli newspaper has published it, and disgusted.
I also can’t say I’m surprised that everyone is going to use the prayer in some political way. Sad, but not surprised.
Just out of professional curiosity, where exactly did you hear they buried them?
Does the rabbi of the Western Wall actively encourage visiting dignitaries to leave notes for God? It seems like an odd practice for a gentile to indulge in spontaneously.
Politicians commonly engage in local practices when visiting places. And leaving prayers in the Western Wall is, at least from my perspective, is a very touristy thing to do-- Jew or Gentile. I went there when I was in Jerusalem, and if I were religious, I expect I would’ve tried to leave a prayer, too.
It’s a very common practice for non-Jews to leave prayers in the Wall. I would guess that the majority of Christians who visit the wall leave prayers there. The Wall is not closed to anyone and the practice of leaving prayers is not restricted. There’s also noth sacriligious about it from a Christian (or even Muslim) standpoint. It’s the same God, after all.
It’s also SOP for American politicians to leave prayers in the Western Wall. I know Bush and Clinton both did it. I think McCain has as well.
I agree completely. It was an offensive, sacrilegious, blasphemous intrusion on Obama’s private relationship with his God. OUTRAGEOUS!!!
But as soon as I heard it on CNN (who felt that airing the message was “inappropriate”)…I rushed to my computer to Google it , so I could see what he wrote…
Yeah, I think it would be odd for him not to have done so.