I recently visited “Ezrat Yisrael,” the egalitarian section of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. As an Israeli tour guide, I have had hundreds of opportunities to stand on the Roman stones below and share stories about the Jews who walked there 2,000 years ago — and those who will come after us.
Standing between the beauty of the Herodian construction and the devastation left by the Romans, it was common to hear people speaking languages from around the world. This is a place where past, present, and future meet. A place that brings together Jews from the four corners of the Earth.
A place that unites Jews “M’Arba Kanfot HaAretz“— from the four corners of the earth. Each morning, as we gather our tzitzit and gently wrap ourselves in the tallit before reciting the Shema, I am reminded of this gathering place. It is a place where our values, our shared history, and our hopes for the future stand together as one. A place where the individuality of each stone meshes together to form the beauty of the whole. A place of common ground.
Perhaps, the next time you gather your tzitzit, you will think of those ancient stones where our common ground gathers – “M’Arba Kanfot HaAretz.”
