the wall around to the centre of Judaism, the tall cliff of massive
stone blocks, bevelled in the fashion of Herodian times, which was all
that remained of the fabulous second temple of Herod, destroyed two
thousand years before by the Romans.
They were searched at the gate and then joined the stream of worshippers
flocking down towards the wall.
At the barrier they stood for a long time in silence.
David felt again the stirring of a deep race memory, a hollow feeling of
the soul which longed to be filled.
The men prayed facing the wall, many of them in the long black coats of
the Orthodox Jew with the ringlets dangling against their cheeks as they
rocked and swayed in religious ecstasy. Within the enclosure of the
right hand side, the women seemed more reserved in their devotions.
Joe spoke at last, a little embarrassed and in a gruff tone. I think
I'll just go say a shma. Yes, Hannah agreed. Are you coming with me,
Debra?
A moment. Debra turned to David, and took something from her handbag.
I made it for you for the wedding, she said. But wear it now. It was a
yamulka, an embroidered prayer cap of black satin.
Go with Joe, she said. He will show you what to do. The girls moved
off to the women's enclosure and David placed the cap upon his head and
followed Joe down to the wall.
A shamash came to them, an old man with a long silver beard, and he
helped David bind upon his right arm a tiny leather box containing a
portion of the Torah.
So you shall lay these words upon your heart and your soul, and you
shall bind them upon your right arm Then he spread a tollit across
David's shoulders, a tasselled shawl of woven wool, and he led him to
the wall, and he began to repeat after the shamash: Hear, 0 Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is one His voice grew surer as he remembered the
words from long ago, and he looked up at the wall of massive stone
blocks that towered high above him. Thousands of previous worshippers
had written down their prayers on scraps of paper and wedged them into
the joints between the blocks, and around him rose the plaintive voices
of spoken prayer. It seemed to David that in his imagination a golden
beam of prayer rose from this holy place towards the heavens.
Afterwards they left the enclosure and climbed the stairs into the
Jewish quarter, and the good feeling remained with David, glowing warmly
in his belly.
That evening they sat together on the terrace drinking Goldstar beer and
splitting sunflower seeds for the nutty kernels, and naturally the talk
turned to God and religion.
Joe said, I'm an Israeli and then a Jew. First my country, and a long
way behind that comes my religion. But David remembered the expression
on his face as he prayed against the wailing wall.
The talk lasted until late, and David glimpsed the vast body of his
religious heritage.
I would like to learn a little more about it all, he admitted, and Debra
said nothing but when she packed for him to go on base that night she
placed a copy of Herman Wouk's This is my God on top of his clean
