Alex R
6th July 2002, 13:55
Jake you've got a good Soviet style, don't wory, this my last one here.
Leaking Wall attracts sightseers and mystics
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Etgar Lefkovits Jul. 5, 2002
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As water continued leaking from Jerusalem's Western Wall for the sixth straight day, hundreds of curious observers have flocked to the site to view the occurrence, the rabbi of the 2,000-year-old Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, said yesterday.
The leak, which was first noticed Saturday by worshipers at the Wall, has so far dampened a 10 x 40 centimeter section of the Wall.
The drip, thought to be coming from a leak from an underground Wakf pipe on the Temple Mount just above the Wall, has also proved to be of immense interest to Jewish mystics, who see it as a sign of imminent redemption.
On Wednesday, two haredim were escorted away from the area by police after trying to climb the Wall to view the stone.
Officials from the Islamic Wakf who were covertly contacted about the problem earlier this week reported that they were unable to discover the origin of the leak.
Fearing renewed Palestinian violence, police have barred non-Muslims, including archaeologists, from entering the Temple Mount since then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site in September 2000, leaving Judaism's holiest site without any archaeological supervision and leaving Israel dependent on the cooperation of the Wakf, which is responsible for maintenance at the site.
Rabinovitch said yesterday that his top priority is to stop the dripping, which he termed "highly unusual."
Referring to a symbolic name given to the Wall the Wailing Wall by European observers because Jews for centuries came there to bewail the loss of the temples, Rabinovitch said: "Maybe the Wall is indeed crying because of the current situation in the country."
Leaking Wall attracts sightseers and mystics
------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------
Etgar Lefkovits Jul. 5, 2002
------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------
As water continued leaking from Jerusalem's Western Wall for the sixth straight day, hundreds of curious observers have flocked to the site to view the occurrence, the rabbi of the 2,000-year-old Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, said yesterday.
The leak, which was first noticed Saturday by worshipers at the Wall, has so far dampened a 10 x 40 centimeter section of the Wall.
The drip, thought to be coming from a leak from an underground Wakf pipe on the Temple Mount just above the Wall, has also proved to be of immense interest to Jewish mystics, who see it as a sign of imminent redemption.
On Wednesday, two haredim were escorted away from the area by police after trying to climb the Wall to view the stone.
Officials from the Islamic Wakf who were covertly contacted about the problem earlier this week reported that they were unable to discover the origin of the leak.
Fearing renewed Palestinian violence, police have barred non-Muslims, including archaeologists, from entering the Temple Mount since then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site in September 2000, leaving Judaism's holiest site without any archaeological supervision and leaving Israel dependent on the cooperation of the Wakf, which is responsible for maintenance at the site.
Rabinovitch said yesterday that his top priority is to stop the dripping, which he termed "highly unusual."
Referring to a symbolic name given to the Wall the Wailing Wall by European observers because Jews for centuries came there to bewail the loss of the temples, Rabinovitch said: "Maybe the Wall is indeed crying because of the current situation in the country."