Obama's private prayer removed and published

[akflightmedic]

What do you think? Right or wrong?

Personally, I think he knew and expected that his prayer would be removed and read or even leaked to the public. It would benefit him to have it done anyways and I think he fully anticipated it.

As a Presidential candidate, does one have any expectancy of privacy even when dealing with private religous matters?

To me, his prayer seems well worded and I would not expect less with his orator skills, however it seems worded properly to not swing the general public either way. It actually makes him appear more humble, more pious. I personally think it was a great strategy.

Besides, what is the point of placing a written prayer inside an ancient wall? Does it need to be written and inserted in this ancient holy site to get more of god's attention as he may not hear it or give it as much creedance as a prayer that is whispered in the head?

Is this another "superstitous" practice?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080725/ap_on_...el_obama_s_note

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 25, 4:26 PM ET

JERUSALEM - An Israeli newspaper's decision to publish a handwritten prayer left by Barack Obama in the cracks of Jerusalem's Western Wall drew criticism Friday as an invasion of his privacy and his relationship with God.

In the note, placed at Judaism's holiest site Thursday, Obama asks God to guide him and guard his family.

"Lord — Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will," reads the note published in Maariv.

Maariv ran a photograph of the note on its front page Friday. It said the note was removed from the wall by a Jewish seminary student immediately after Obama left.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would neither confirm nor deny the note was Obama's, but the handwriting was similar to another message written by the presidential candidate during his time in Israel this week.

The paper's decision to make the note public brought quick criticism from religious authorities. The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, called it an intrusion on Obama's intimate relationship with God.

"The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them," Rabinovitz told Army Radio.

The newspaper's action "damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves," he added.

Many visitors to the 2,000-year-old Western Wall leave notes in its crevices bearing requests and prayers. Obama placed a small note and then bowed his head during a pre-dawn visit Thursday, following a day spent in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The Western Wall is the lone remaining outer retaining wall of the second biblical Jewish temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Revered as Judaism's holiest site, it stands where the Bible says King Solomon built the first Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

"It's inappropriate that the prayers of a person at the Western Wall should become a subject of public knowledge at all," said Jonathan Rosenblum, a Jerusalem-based analyst of the religious community and director of the Orthodox Am Ehad think tank.

"There is a rabbinic prohibition against reading other people's private communications, and certainly anyone who goes to the wall expects that those communication will be protected," Rosenblum said.

Another Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, published an article Friday saying it had also obtained the note but decided against publishing it out of respect for Obama's privacy. Nearly all other Israeli media ignored the story.

Thousands of notes and prayers are stuffed into the cracks of the wall. In recent years, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which operates the site, has opened a fax hot line and a Web site where people overseas can send their prayers and have them printed out and put in the wall.

The wall is emptied of its notes several times a year. The papers are treated as a prayer book and buried, rather than burned.

While Maariv drew criticism, the removal and publication of the note did not appear violate any laws. Police officials said they were not investigating the incident.

The handwriting appeared to match a message that Obama wrote Wednesday in the guest book at Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial. It was written on stationery from the King David Hotel, where Obama stayed while in Israel.

Obama signed the Yad Vashem message. The note from the Western Wall was unsigned.

At the Western Wall, Obama was greeted by a crowd of curious onlookers and photographers. He donned a white skullcap, listened to a rabbi read a prayer, and inserted a folded white paper between the stones. One hardline Israeli protester shouted, "Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale."

The visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories was part of an international tour meant to shore up Obama's foreign affairs credentials ahead of the November election. Obama's prospective rival, John McCain, visited Israel in March.

___

[AnthonyM83]

I don't know how planned it was or not...but as far as needing to post it in ancient walls to be heard...no it doesn't need to be...but then again we don't need to go to church to pray, yet many people stop by to say a prayer . People create their own sacred rituals as part of their personal religion.

[Michael]

A variety of comments here. One of which referred to this one.

And then there's this one.

[akflightmedic]

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

It seems like he would know that I sincerely was going to do it anyways and I meant it, so the reward is guaranteed, therefore I can actually skip doing it, since he knows I was going to do it and we can get straight to the rewardment...right? But wait, for me to not do it, means he issues punitive measures for non compliance as well. Damn, this just gets me confused.

Can't I just be good because biologically it is within me? We all have the inate desire to do or be good, one does not need religion to have morals. Sigh...blasphemy I know..and a heathen to boot!

[Lone Star]

I just read that story on the MSN website.

My thoughts are this:

Whoever removed Obama's note from the wall.....shame on you!

The news services that printed the story.....shame on you too!

I don't care that Mr. Obama left a prayer in the wall in Jerusalem, that is between him and whatever 'higher power' he believes in. For the news services to blast it around the world for everybody and their brother to see was, in MY opinion, irresponsible and unnecessary.

We as a society have become so 'hungry' for the actions of 'celebrities', (both public and private), that we've turned into a society of gossips; and I for one think it's a poor reflection on ourselves.

[Michael]

It seems like he would know that I sincerely was going to do it anyways and I meant it, so the reward is guaranteed, therefore I can actually skip doing it, since he knows I was going to do it and we can get straight to the rewardment...right?

Just like y'all know that I was sincerely was going to post something here/send in a donation/perform CPR anyways and I meant it, so the reward is guaranteed, therefore I can actually skip doing it, since y'all know I was going to do it and we can get straight to the rewardment

Right.

[akflightmedic]

Exactly!!

[Michael]

So where's my rewardment? Oh, that's right, you sincerely were going to reward me anyways and you meant it, so the reward is guaranteed, therefore you can actually skip doing it, since I know you were going to reward me.

[Michael]

“All reality resolves itself into a wonderful dream, without a life which is dreamed about, and without a mind that is having the dream; into a dream that hangs together in a dream of itself.” ~ Johann Gottlieb Fichte, The Vocation of Man (1848)

[Michael]

On the other hand.