Today marks 11 years since the passing of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who was born in Baghdad in 1920 (5681). He became the leader of the Sephardic community and a prominent halachic authority for Sephardim. He wrote extensive and important halachic literature, worked to “restore the crown to its former glory,” and established the tradition of the large Selichot gathering at the Western Wall on the eve of Yom Kippur, a tradition that continues to this day.
In his halachic writings, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef referred to the customs of prayer and the feelings of awakening and excitement at the Western Wall:
Thus, the custom of the faithful of Israel, who pray and pour out their pleas and whispers near the Western Wall, which is a remnant of our Temple. The holiness of the place causes those who enter the courtyards of God to awaken with sacred fervor, with sparks of a divine flame, to pray with devotion, awe, and reverence. And blessed is the one who directs his heart in pure and clear prayer before the Blessed God, for he is assured that his prayer will not return empty, as it is written (Psalms 10): ‘You will prepare their heart, You will incline Your ear.’ Meaning, if he is helped from the heavens to focus his heart in his prayer, then certainly the ears of God, as it were, listen to his plea. And it is a mitzvah to kiss the stones of the Wall and show affection to its dust, as it is written: ‘For Your servants desire her stones and favor her dust.’
[Ketubot 112, Yalkut Yosef, Halacha 160 – Synagogue, page 272].
May his memory be blessed.
