Sukkot Blessing at the Western Wall

It was estimated that from 70,000 to 100,000 people came to the Kotel (Western Wall) in October to participate in, or to watch the traditional Sukkot [Feast of Tabernacles] “Blessing of the Cohenim” [or Priestly Blessing as instructed in Numbers 6:22-27]

The impressive annual event, which was led jointly by the Israeli Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger [for Jews of European descent] and Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar [for Jews of Spanish/Portuguese descent], was also made available to tens of thousands of people outside Israel via an array of webcams set up at various vantage points around the Western Wall Plaza. From early in the morning, people were arriving at the Kotel to ensure a good vantage point.

By nine o’clock, the main roads into Jerusalem were almost at a standstill as cars and buses slowly filtered into the capital. Some 6,000 Christian pilgrims came to Israel for the Sukkot festival, and many of them participated in the annual Jerusalem Sukkot March the following day.