JERUSALEM (Press Release)- “I couldn’t move”, “It was like magic” and “you must do it” were some the responses of the ten randomly selected strangers who participated in a guided meditation intended to connect them more deeply to the Western Wall. (Ha Kotel). In a seven minute video detailing the process, we can see French, Italian, American and Israeli visitors to the Western Wall sitting in a chair at the back of the Western Wall’s plaza and instructed to visualize themselves relaxing and going back in time to when the Temple was built.
“We wanted to show people how simple it is to meditate, and how powerful that experience can be,” explains Shalom Shore, who facilitated the meditation. “We designed the video in a way that a viewer anywhere in the world could have the same powerful experience of connecting deeply to the Western Wall as the film’s participants had.”
The short film features the entire guided meditation, interwoven with shots of the participants meditating and scenes from the western wall. In the video, the participants are asked to imagine themselves traveling back in time to when the Jewish temple was standing, and visualize the experience as if they were actually there. This proved to be a particularly powerful dimension of the meditation, as several participants referred to it specifically, indicating that it was their favorite part of the experience.
Jewish tradition considers the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem to be the holiest spot in the world, the place with the most potential for spiritual connection with God. Two temples were built on the site for a total of 830 years, culminating in the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE. Ever since, for close to 2,000 years, the western supporting wall has been a site for Jews to pray for the rebuilding of the temple and to connect to God. As one participant in the meditation, an Italian catholic, described it: “This wall connects you to the story of your ancestors. This is the best way to touch the creator.”
May 28 this year marks Jerusalem Day, a yearly holiday marking the day Israeli paratroopers conquered the Old City in 1967 and restored Jewish sovereignty to the temple mount for the first time in almost two millennia.
To create the film, Shore and two associates, Jacob Ross and Chaya Pittleman approached random strangers at the western wall and offered them to participate in a “unique experience to connect them to the western wall.” Many people refused, but a few were open minded enough to agree to participate and benefited from a very positive experience.
Shore, an ordained rabbi and practitioner of Jewish meditation who runs workshops and counseling sessions incorporating meditation as a means for personal growth and increased self-awareness, hopes the film will help publicize and encourage other people to take up meditation. “I have found meditation to be a life-changing transformational tool, especially for people living a modern, hectic lifestyle.”
Referring to the meditation portrayed in the film as “Street Meditation”, Shore hopes to show just how easy it is to relax, and how pleasurable it is to do so. He also wishes to remind everyone not to operate heavy machinery while watching the video.
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Preceding provided by Rabbi Shalom Shore