Jews mass at Western Wall for holiday blessing

The priestly blessing which is part of the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, or Feast of the Tabernacles, time of pilgrimage

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Jews gathered at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Wednesday for a special blessing that takes place twice a year at one of Judaism's holiest sites.

The "priestly blessing" was part of the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, or Feast of the Tabernacles, which in antiquity was a time of pilgrimage.

Thousands of male priests raised their hands and chanted the words of the blessing in the ceremony attended by those from the Cohanim priestly caste.

The blessing involves the raising of hands in a form similar to the "Vulcan salute" Leonard Nimoy borrowed from Judaism for his "Star Trek" role as Mr Spock.



The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which oversees the holy site, estimated that 100,000 people attended two ceremonies in the morning.

They included US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who is a Jew and a member of the priestly caste.

"It's my opportunity to bless the people of Israel," he told reporters ahead of the services.

Friedman also used the opportunity to praise US President Donald Trump's "excellent" speech on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly.

"I thought he laid out a very clear vision," he said.

"It's consistent with what he's been saying since he's been the president about how he thinks the United States relates with the rest of the world."

The blessing is part of daily prayers chanted in synagogues worldwide, but mass gatherings have been held since the early 1970s twice a year evoking the biblical dictum of pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem on certain holidays.



The other gathering occurs during Passover.

The Western Wall is a remnant of a supporting wall of the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Above it lies the plaza where the temple once stood and which now houses the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.

It is the holiest site to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the Al-Aqsa compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem to avoid provoking tensions.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.