President of Chile Visits the Kosel

Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, visited the Kosel on Tuesday with his wife and a large delegation as part of his visit to the state of Israel.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Kosel and Holy Sites, recited a chapter of Tehillim with the President and blessed him with Shlomo Hamelech’s prayer that all his prayers will be accepted with good will. Rabbi Rabinowitz added that visiting the Kosel expresses identification with the values and heritage of the Jewish nation.

The Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Mordechai (Suli) Eliav, told President Piñera about the history of the site and about it being a house of prayer for all nations. The President also heard about Jewish yearning for Yerushalayim throughout the generations. The President expressed vast knowledge of history and was deeply impressed despite this not being his first visit to there, and received an album about the Kosel as a memento.

The President mentioned that the school named for Anne Frank prepared notes with their prayers that they gave him to place between the stones of the Wall.

The President of Chile signed the Kosel guestbook with a prayer asking G-d to bring peace to the Holy Land.