could I get an opinion?

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 26 Jul 2008 at 19:18, Donna Halper wrote:

> As many of you know, several days ago, Barack Obama was in Israel,
> where he went to the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, and
> said a prayer.  He also wrote his prayer, as is the custom, and
> inserted it into a crevice in the wall.  As he left, an ultra-Orthodox
> rabbinical student removed the prayer and brought it to a newspaper,
> which promptly published it.  That is my question. Would you have
> published Obama's private prayer, left at one of Israel's holiest
> sites?

Well, I think what the rabbinical student did was reprehensible, but 
that's the easy part.  I'm afraid that religious fundamentalists of 
all strips manage to do some incredibly ungodly things in the name of 
their religion.

That said, I wonder just what expecation Obama had that his prayer 
would be private.  I don't know how much he knew about what happens 
to prayers placed in the wall.  I understand that they are removed 
regularly, otherwise the volume of paper would be overwhelming.  I 
haven't yet seen the content of his prayer, so I can't begin to 
guess, but I suspect he probably expected that the prayer would at 
some point become public.  He may even have planned it that way.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax 617.507.7856
Boston, MA 02109-2004           	         http://www.attorneyross.com