More than 100,000 viewers worldwide tuned into a series of online lessons hosted this week by Yeshivat HaKotel, a major religious Zionist hesder yeshivah located across from the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Dubbed the “Jewish Unity” event, the lessons featured dozens of rabbis, lecturers and teachers representing the full spectrum of the Torah world: men and women, ultra-Orthodox and national religious, Sephardi and Ashkenazi, from Israel and from Diaspora communities around the world.
The speakers addressed a variety of topics relevant to Tisha B’Av, a national as well as a religious day of mourning for the destruction of the two temples, including redemption, rebuilding the Temple, interpersonal mitzvot and more.
More than 190 Torah personalities shared their perspectives and demonstrated the diversity of the Torah world. Notable speakers included Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rabbi Eliyahu Rachamim Zeini and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.
“The yearning for the rebuilding of Jerusalem is strengthened in complex times,” explained Moti Jerbi, CEO of Yeshivat Hakotel. “The entire Jewish world is trying to recover from the coronavirus, and at this time we are asking the entire Jewish people to come together around Torah, love for fellow Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem,” he said.
“We thank the almost 200 speakers who participated in this most important project. During these complicated times, we do not take their time for granted. All lessons are available on the Yeshivat Hakotel’s YouTube channel, and everyone is welcome to continue viewing them,” he added.
Yeshivat HaKotel President Rabbi Baruch Weider said, “These days, when we mourn for the exile of the Divine Presence, it is important to remember the Shechina can always be found in the Beit Midrash, the Holy of Holies and Jerusalem, the city that unites and makes all Jews friends.
“Yeshivat HaKotel symbolizes the return of the Divine Presence and Torah to within the walls of Jerusalem. A dynamic and diverse Torah gathering, which brings together Jews from around the world and from across the spectrum is a clear sign of the coming redemption, and of the hope that arises particularly from difficult times,” he continued. “The Jewish people and the State of Israel are in a complicated place lately, and we all pray that this unique and historic gathering will bring healing and redemption to all of Am Yisrael.”
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
