The Jew quickly moves out of the image, reading the early morning prayers to himself. How does he not bump into another human? The Wall is busy, which is in sharp contrast to this image. No matter how populated is the Wall in the early morning hours, it always feels empty, like you have the entire Wall to yourself and it speaks only to you. The soldiers at the entrance gate, checking security, are alert but talkative, cracking jokes as they silently examine your backpack. Beggars immediately accost you as they stake out their territory to best position themselves for their daily hustle. It is a sad sight to see so much poverty in a Jewish State. Absolute poverty. Desperate poverty. A large bloated man stumbles by. His filthy stained trousers are held up to his waist by a dirty rope. His torn shirt can barely cover his large girth. He bloats from too much bad food and bad liquor. A vacant and hollowed stare comes through his eyes. He sees me and yet he does not. I look down, to his broken, worn sandals and see that his large toe is deeply infected with some kind of purple fungus. I notice that he is dangling red strings on his wrist. Another beggar. An elderly woman of small frame and stature sits in a chair. A warm smile and tender eyes greet me as she asks me for some shekel. There is something wise and sad and kind in her look, as if she has seen all of life and it is not a pretty picture and this is the way it is, since we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. I hand her a few dollars. She is thunderstruck as if I had given her one million. Full of gratitude she whispers over and over again, Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Shalom. Only in Israel, I think to myself. The men coming to pray are quickly walking past, as if they are missing something and they are. The walking slowly, the quiet pace, moves you into the process of prayer, that comes out and is revealed when you allow yourself to be present. The rushing and moving and jostling and shoving create an opaque density around you, instead of an invisible window that allows you to see in and to see out. But in Judaism, time is wrapped up in laws that are connected with time and must be obeyed. This man though is different. Deep in prayer with the tallit still covering his head, he walks without seeing, engrossed, absorbed, connected and praying to God, Our Lord.
