“If a nation and a country have a soul – then Jerusalem is their soul,” said Ben Gurion. He imagined the many pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem and to the Kotel and understood the longing, the joy, and the desire to touch the stones of the Kotel and pray near them.
Photo: Ben Gurion with Teddy Kollek (former mayor of Jerusalem) at the Western Wall, courtesy of Rabbi Shechter’s family
The Individual Within the Collective – Parashat Bamidbar
Parashat Bamidbar 5786 Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites This week’s Torah portion opens the fourth of the Five Books
25 Iyar 5786
May 12, 2026
