Holocaust Survivor, 90, Davens at Kosel for First Time

YERUSHALAYIM
The Kosel. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Avraham Takacz, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor from the Ukraine, has fulfilled the dream of his lifetime: to visit the Kosel.

“I dreamed about it all my life, and here I am,” said Takacz, beaming on Monday, after finally arriving after a lifetime’s journey at Judaism’s holiest place.

“This is a great privilege that has been placed in my lap and that I have been able to come and pray in the holiest place for the Jewish people. Until now, this place was known to me only from pictures…And here I am finally reaching this place personally,” he told Arutz Sheva.

Takacz moved to Israel in 2014 with his two daughters and grandchildren and settled in Rishon L’Tzion. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict prompted the move.

“I have already had one difficult war, and I did not want my family to go through war also,” he said.

The Kosel visit was arranged by his granddaughter in honor of his 90th birthday. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews assisted with transportation and wheelchair.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that “the visit has aroused great excitement among all those who attended the ceremony … We have a golden opportunity to be partners in realizing his dream of reaching the place of yearning for him and for the entire Jewish people. On his face he described, more than anything else, the intensity of emotion aroused by his visit to the Western Wall.”

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