Israel paper publishes Obama's private note placed in Western Wall

An outrageous stunt:

Daily newspaper Maariv published the contents of the note to G-d which Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama placed in the Kotel Thursday. The paper claims a yeshiva student took the note out of the crack in the Kotel which Obama placed it in, as is done traditionally in the belief that G-d will receive the writer's wishes.

... Notes to the Kotel are considered extremely personal and never, in recent memory, has one been published against the wishes of the person who placed it.

The LA Times has a scan of the text:

It reads: "Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair [edited]. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

I have to say, if the note is genuine - it's a good note.

The surprivising Rabbi is very angry, and understandably so:

The rabbi who supervises Jerusalem's Western Wall [Wikipedia entry] condemned the removal of a prayer note purportedly written by Sen. Barack Obama, saying the action was "sacrilegious."

The U.S. presidential candidate visited the holy site early Thursday and placed a note in the cracks of the wall -- a custom of visitors.

The note was subsequently removed from the wall, according to the Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, which printed what it said were the contents of the prayer.
Ma'ariv said a seminary student gave the note to the newspaper.

Obama's senior strategist Robert Gibbs told CNN, "We haven't confirmed nor denied" that the note is from the Illinois senator.

"This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site," said Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who supervises the Western Wall, in a statement.

He said notes are supposed to be removed twice a year, on the eve of Jewish New Year and Passover, and placed in a repository under supervision "to keep them hidden from human eyes."

"Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way," Rabinowitz said.

CNN's Sasha Johnson, who was a part of a pool of journalists who accompanied Obama to the wall, said when reporters asked Obama what he wrote, he declined to share the contents of his prayer. (CNN)

If only the same respect were widely given to the seal of confession as is being shown to the Western Wall.