Rabbi of the Western Wall's Wife: 'I Hosted Ivanka Trump, But There Were More Moving Events'

About twenty-five years ago, when Mrs. Yael Rabinowitz and her husband Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz were a young couple, Rabbi Rabinowitz received the role of his life - to be the Rabbi of the Western Wall. From that moment, they entered a unique world, filled with holiness, but also with elements threatening that holiness, prayers, and unity, but also with dangers and extremely sensitive issues.

"Initially, we did not understand how complex and challenging the role was," notes Mrs. Rabinowitz in a conversation we are having with her during this time of the year when the Wall becomes a focal point attracting thousands of Jews daily who come to pray for the rebuilding of the Temple soon. "We were always excited and understood the responsibility," she emphasizes, "but as the years pass, we understand just how much of a first-rate mission this is. Each time anew, it becomes more powerful, challenging, and complex, and yet, it also provides extraordinary satisfaction. Personally, the feeling is that precisely because it is a holy and pure House of Hashem, there is such strong resistance from forces of impurity coming to the place, and our role is to ensure that holiness overcomes impurity and to bestow the Western Wall with the full respect it deserves."

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90)

"The Wall Belongs to Everyone"

The Rabinowitz couple has been married for over thirty years, they are parents to eight children, and of course, have lived all these years in Jerusalem, simply put - they manage their lives around the Western Wall.

What is essentially the role of the Rabbi of the Wall?

"The position is very extensive," answers Rabinowitz, "he is actually the figure responsible for faithfully representing the policies of the Israeli government at the Wall, as well as the implementation of the chief rabbinate's rulings regarding the place. Moreover, the Rabbi is responsible for facilitating the most important state ceremonies at the Wall, alongside family Bar Mitzvah events, hosting world leaders and official guests of the State of Israel, alongside private visitors from all over the world, because the Wall is for everyone and should be accessible to everyone."

"It is not always simple, sometimes the role leads my husband to stand at a very complex and delicate crossroads. But it is a role with a mission - to bring sons closer to their Father in heaven, and I can testify closely that my husband truly does everything he can to enable an experience of connection to the Wall for every Jew, and to open its gates before everyone. The reality bears witness to this, as from year to year, the number of groups arriving at the Wall grows, and they are very diverse: students from schools, participants of 'Birthright', soldiers, and officers. Holocaust survivors also come to celebrate Bar Mitzvah for the first time, among many other educational projects aimed at connecting the people of Israel to the chain of generations. The numbers are amazing, as about a decade ago, the number of guests of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation stood at about 2 million people per year, whereas today it stands at about 14 million people."

Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90

What is the hardest and most challenging part of the role?

"Throughout the year, complex and sensitive issues arise in and around the Western Wall plaza, such as political, social, religious, and security conflicts. These matters eventually reach my husband's desk, and he has to provide solutions that maintain the delicate balance between the powerful currents all converging at the Western Wall plaza. I am also personally required to contribute my part to this entire tapestry and even participate in many representative events that include women, wives of heads of state, and wives of rabbis. Thus, I contribute my part."

On a personal note, Rabinowitz adds: "There is no doubt that my husband is very busy and the role takes up a lot of his time. We are prevented from attending many events we would like to participate in, and we also give up many other things. However, we and our children are happy about the contribution we make."

Envoys of the People of Israel

While her husband visits the Western Wall almost daily, Mrs. Rabinowitz regularly comes for Friday night prayers, and during the week she comes to pray at least one additional time.

Do you sometimes feel that due to the fact that the Wall is so accessible and close, the excitement diminishes when you visit it?

"Not at all," she answers firmly. "The Western Wall is a gate of prayer, and each time I stand there for prayer, I feel newfound excitement. I am particularly connected to the Friday night prayer at the Wall, when with the sunset, thousands of worshippers gather at the Western Wall, including a group of nearly 1000 people, for a Hassidic-style Shabbat welcoming. My husband and I also make an effort to attend and participate in this prayer.

"We are excited each time anew to see that under the wings of this minyan, all shades come together - Ashkenazi and Sephardic, knitted and black skullcaps, Hassidim and Litvaks, the old and the young. It is a rare sight when hundreds of Jews welcome the Shabbat Queen together, with uplifting enthusiasm, fervent singing, and hands raised to the air, with a very festive and joyful atmosphere. Only the Western Wall can create such wondrous unity. This is the power of the Wall, this is the holiness of Jerusalem, this is the virtue of the People of Israel."

Another opportunity where Mrs. Rabinowitz finds herself especially moved is on Yom Kippur. "This is a day when we are at the Western Wall all day long, and there are no words to describe the feeling of praying at the sacred place that is about 100 meters from the place where the High Priest entered on Yom Kippur. As envoys of the People of Israel, we are the closest to this place, and it shakes the heart to think about it. Also on Hoshana Rabbah and Shavuot, I love to see the multitude of the House of Israel making a pilgrimage and frequenting the remnant of the Holy Temple, as well as the moving ceremony of the priestly blessing on Passover and Sukkot.

Hosting Ivanka

Mrs. Yael Rabinowitz and her husband, the Rabbi of the Wall, have hosted many heads of state at the Western Wall over the years, including former US President Donald Trump. "But personally, I was most excited to host in the women's section his daughter Ivanka, who converted, and to see the tears in her eyes as she stood before the stones of the Western Wall," she shares. "Nonetheless, and despite all the visits of the diplomatic representatives and their wives, who are honored in their place, I am always particularly moved by the multitudes of the House of Israel who come to the Western Wall with great prayer in their hearts. Just standing next to women of all types and ancestries, observing their heartfelt prayers, seeing the tears on their faces, the pleading and the gratitude. It opens the heart and softly echoes within me a prayer and participation in their request, that Hashem should hear their cries and save them. These are no less moving moments, and this is the place that connects the heavenly Jerusalem with the earthly Jerusalem, heaven and earth."

Photo: Nati Shochat / Flash 90

And what is happening at the Wall these days, in the days between the straits?

"During the days between the straits, and certainly in the nine days, we all remember more than at any other time of the year the destruction of Jerusalem, and personally, this is a subject that occupies me daily. We all know that the Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred, and it is no wonder that during this period, I am moved anew each time I hear stories about special Jews who came to the Wall to mourn the exile of the Shechinah.

"I am particularly connected during these waters to the prayer 'Aleinu L'shabeach', and especially to the request in its conclusion: 'To quickly see the splendor of Your strength, to remove idols from the earth, and for false gods to be utterly destroyed, to repair the world through the Almighty's sovereignty...'. This is a significant prayer, exactly what we wish for ourselves in such days. I always strive to pray it with great intention, and during these days - doubly so."

And how does your Tisha B'Av look like?

"My husband and I go to Rachel's Tomb, where we read the Book of Lamentations and cry with Rachel weeping for her children. There we also read the elegies. On Tisha B'Av afternoon, when we believe the Savior of Israel was born, we come to pray the afternoon prayer at the Western Wall."

Photo: Haim Goldberg / Flash 90

Mrs. Rabinowitz has a request for the end: "This year, the issue of baseless hatred and the need to build the Temple with baseless love is a sevenfold obligation for each and every one of us. It is appropriate that we all look at ourselves and not at others - how are we? To look inward, and from there outward - to listen to each other, and to contain the place from where the other comes.

"My husband the Rabbi always says: 'One of the miracles in Jerusalem was that Israel stood crowded but bowed with space. And the question arises: how, in a place so small, when many bowed - which is an act that takes up even more space than standing crowded - was there space? And he answers: when a person stands by his opinion and does not listen to another, even if he sits in a large and spacious house - it will feel crowded. A person in a small house, but bows his head and listens to another - will always feel space.' This year, we must adopt this view of 'bowing with space'. If we listen to one another, there will be room for us all and we shall merit the building of the house."