An interfaith prayer service was organized at the Western Wall to pray for an end to the coronavirus outbreak, a return to routine and the healing of sick people around the world over the weekend.
Christian, Baha'i and Jewish clergy from Spain and Israel took part in the service organized by the Israeli Tourism Ministry's office in Spain.
The clergy included: Father Rafic Nahara, the patriarchal vicar who is in charge of the Hebrew-speaking Christian communities and the immigrant communities in Israel; Jose Manuel Inquanta, representative of the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain; David Freeman, representative of the Baha'i International Community in Jerusalem; Yael Macias, representative of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain; and Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem in charge of the tourism portfolio and foreign relations.
The initiative began in Spain, where believers from the various religions conveyed prayers for the clergy to place in the Western Wall.
The clergy who arrived at the Western Wall met with members of the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall and then entered the main plaza and prayed before placing the requests they received between the stones of the wall.
The event is part of a series of activities by the Spanish Bureau for the preservation of Israel in consciousness, in preparation for the return of tourism.
"As Yehuda Halevi, one of the greatest poets of Spanish Jewry, wrote in the 12th century: 'My heart is in the East and I am at the end of the West,' so too today, people of all religions long for the Holy City of Jerusalem, and for the Western Wall, the holiest place of all," said Noga Sher-Greco, director of religious tourism at the Tourism Ministry.