Notes In The Western Wall
Continued from Page L-1
submitted on a slip of paper called
in Yiddish a kvittel.
Even death was not an
impediment to the effectiveness of a
particularly charismatic leader.
Some Chasidm placed kvitlech on
the grave of a deceased rebbe so
that the rebbe in heaven should
pray on their behalf.
As the Jewish population of
Eretz Yisrael began to expand at
the beginning of the 18th century,
and as more Jews were able to
travel, the Kotel, known to most
Jews only in legend, became again
a real place. The Kotel was the only
The Chasidim who
visited the Kotel also
came with hopes for a
restored Jewish nation.
But instead of putting
nails in the Wall, they
inserted kvitlech:
part of the ancient Temple
accessible to Jews, and they made
it the focus of their longings for
redemption and liberation.
Many Jews who came to pray
at the Kotel began the practice of
inserting wooden nails in the
crevices between the blocks of
stone to fulfill the words of the
prophet Yeshayahu: "And I will
fasten him as a peg in a sure
place" (Isaiah 22:23).
The Chasidim who visited the
Kotel also came with hopes for a
restored Jewish nation. But instead
of putting nails in the Wall, they
inserted kvitlech.
part of the world. This country
(America) has done much; I
wish it may do more, and
annul every narrow idea in
religion, government and
commerce."
They probably were emulating
the Moroccan-born mystic, Rabbi
Chayim ben Moshe Ben-Attar
(1696-1743), who spent the last year
of his life in Jerusalem. His best
known work was the Or Ha-Chayim,
a commentary on the Chumash
(Pentateuch), widely studied in
Chasidic circles. Today, the Or Ha-
Chayim often is included in editions
of the Chumash published with
commentaries.
Many stories of Rabbi Ben-Attar
circulated among his followers,
including tales of the rabbi's
missives believed that because of
the Wall's sanctity, the messages
would be given special divine
attention.
His letters, always on behalf of
a fellow Jew in need of help,
addressed God in feminine terms.
The mystics believed that in
requesting assistance, they stood a
better chance of evoking a positive
divine response by appealing to
God's motherly attributes of nurture
and compassion.
Thus, when the Chasidic faithful
wrote a kvittel, the supplicant's
name was stated as the son or
daughter of the mother, rather than
the father, as is the standard form of
address. Today, this is still the
custom, as in the recitation of the
Mi-Sheberach prayer for the sick.
Gradually, Jews other than
Chasidim adopted the practice of
placing a kvittel in the Kotel. As
Jerusalem became accessible to
more and more Jews, pilgrims often
brought their own kvittel or kvitlech
entrusted to them by others.
Even gentiles became aware of
the custom, sometimes to the Jews'
detriment. During the outbreaks of
anti-Jewish violence in Jerusalem in
the 1920s and 1930s, Arab rioters
This is one of the earliest steps
in the American-Israel kinship.
A noble message passed on to
all generations when Gorky
(1868-1936) the famous Russian
novelist, wrote in 1902, when
Theodor Herzl was mobilizing the
pioneering Zionist forces as an
expression of commitment to Jewish
liberation:
The New Exodus presently
dedicated to the redeeming of
Soviet Jews from oppression into
freedom in Israel revives interest in
a prominent Russian author's
support of Zionism ninety years ago.
Advocacy of the Zionist ideal by
Maxim Gorky retains timeliness now
when there is a Pamyat anti-
Semitism and a threatened "lust for
pogroms" as an admonition that
there also were libertarian Russians
who defended the Jewish cause.
"I am told Zionism is a
Utopia. I do not know;
perhaps. But inasmuch as I
see in this Utopia an
unconquerable thirst for
freedom, once for which the
people will suffer, it is for me a
reality. With all my heart I pray
that the Jewish people, like the
rest of humanity, may be given
spiritual strength to labor for
its dream and to establish it in
flesh and blood."
pulled kvitlech from the Kotel and
set them afire.
From 1948 until 1967, when the
Old City of Jerusalem was under
Jordanian occupation, Jews were
barred from the Kotel. The old
kvitlech that were left withered and
turned to dust.
Now that Jews and all others
are free to visit their sacred shrines
in Jeruslem, many come to the
Kotel to behold a fragment of the
former majesty of the Temple, others
to pray and study. And some leave
behind a note to God.
Phillip Applebaum is a
historiographer and a past president
of Young Israel of Oak-Woods.
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