could I get an opinion?

[Sid Schweiger]

>>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.<<

I have no idea what his intent was, but IIRC the custom is that all prayers inserted into the Wall are considered private communications between the person and G-d.  Yes, they are regularly removed, but the messags are not read and are burned, the same thing that happens to damaged Torahs, Megillot and other sacred texts (the significance being that fire rises upward from the item being consumed, symbolizing its return to G-d).  The rabbinical student really should have known better, and should have considered his violation of what is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule, which has its basis in the Bible.  I doubt he would have been very happy if someone did that to him.  What he did was not "in the name of his religion;" it was a violation of one of its most basic tenets (no one need pray with a congregation for G-d to hear one's prayer, and if one wishes to pray in private, that prayer remains private).

Sid Schweiger
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