Ahira's Hangar

This came up on a very recent trip by one of the US Presidential candidates to Israel.

While on his trip he visited the Wailing Wall, listened to prayers there, and placed a written prayer in the cracks of the Wall.

Another person took the written prayer (which was contrary to Jewish tradition, according to the article) as soon as the candidate left, and its contents ended up being published in a newspaper.

Does the "public's right to know" trump out the candidate's (or any famous person's) right of religious privacy? Do you think that such a right (of religious privacy) even exists? Or should exist?

That newspaper should be ashamed. What a disgusting thing to do.

Agreed.

That said, he ought to have expected it.

--A

Oh, sure. If you want to be a polotition, movie star, rock star... you know such things are coming. If I'm ever famous, maybe I'll go to the Wall, and stick in a note that says "Get a life, you piece of Grilli!"

I just want to say that even celebrities should deserve the privacy any "regular" human being gets. Two of the last three times I have gone to Tigers games in downtown Detroit, there was one of the Red Wings walking around the stadium with one of his kids. In fact, on Saturday he was also in the restaurant where we were eating dinner with one of his kids.

And both times, people left him the hell alone. Sure, everyone nudged each other and pointed him out - but not a single person went up to him to bother him, ask for an autograph, or take his picture.

When you are with your children - or at a religious service - you need to be left alone to be a regular human being. Some things deserve respect and privacy - family time with your kids, your relationship with your family members, your relationship with God - those things should be yours alone, provided that you do not publicly open them up yourself.

I think what the newspaper did was appalling. But was it worse than those "candid" shots of celebrities trying to have private time with their children or go grocery shopping or do other private activities that always seem to show up in the magazines and newspapers and television news shows?

My g-ds.

This is the first I heard of this.
Such a thing happening never even occured to me.

I've been to the Wall.
I put a piece of paper in.
I got personal on a level I never had with anyone at anytime, before or since.
(of course, I was a hormonal-raging thirteen year old at the time)

If I had even the slightest clue that someone else would come along after, remove it, and read it...

*shakes head*

I do believe if you become a celebrity, that certain privacies are expected to vanish, whether you are famous or infamous. But, I don't know. Religious practice strikes me as being sacrosanct, even for celebrities.

Appalling. What a perfect word, Duchess.

What made it even worse for me is that the note was stolen by a Jewish seminary student. Wouldn't a seminary student realize that when he stole the note from the Wall, he was actually stealing from God?

I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, and I do think he expected his prayer to remain a private thing between him and his God.

Especially given .

Thanks for the link, I also had wondered about McCain's visit. Someone from the Israeli media, or from that Maariv paper, has some explaining/backtracking to do.

And, yeah, I wonder about that student, too. Dude, whoever you are, that's just bad form.

I'm currently an Obama supporter and will most likely vote for him in the general election.

Sen. Barack Obama lost his religious privacy long before this particular outrage, consider the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue.

Good point. Bah...if it were up to me, all candidates would have to be atheists. Religion has no place in the government of a free secular country. Hell, Bush's religion gives me cold shivers...hey...I've just remembered Reagan's whole "Empire of Evil" thing...

--A

Don't have it handy, but I think that was pretty accurate. Don't remember the context though. Need to reread it obviously.

--A