Obama's Private Prayer

by Sumo Vita, Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 08:16:46 PM EST

A chance look into the nominee's private thoughts, penned and deposited at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. A local newspaper made the controversial decision to publish the prayer, retrieved by an orthodox seminary student - an act usually considered taboo.

The senator asked for courage, wisdom, humility. From Time:

Obama didn't pray for an election victory, a lottery win to help pay for his campaign, or for his Republican rival Senator John McCain to be felled by lightning or a pecadillo. On the contrary; his prayer hints at the struggle within, how Obama is seeking divine guidance to surmount the obstacles that lie ahead of him in his lonely, awesome challenge to become the next president of the United States. On hotel stationary, he penned the following prayer, according to Maariv, which ran a photo of the note: "Lord, protect my family and me," Obama wrote. "Forgive me my sins and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

Remarkable words, from a remarkable man.




Tags: Obama, prayer, Western Wall, Judaism, Israel (all tags)

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The rest of the article (2.00 / 2)

is accessible here: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0 ,8599,1826734,00.html?cnn=yes


It is not because I cannot explain that you won't understand. It is because you won't understand that I cannot explain. - Elie Wiesel
by Sumo Vita on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 08:18:53 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 3)

Yup, he's a narcissist all right.

/snark


I'm riding the Low Road Express. Join me at www.lowroadexpress.com
by LtWorf on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 08:40:37 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 3)

then he kicked a puppy.

/snark


Sexism is real.
by grassrootsorganizer on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:03:25 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (1.90 / 10)

I'm torn about this.  It feels like an invasion of privacy.

On the other hand, I'm feel so glad that I got to read it.

What an amazing person.


Obama/Adam West or Bruce Campbell or Lucy Lawless '08
by Purple with Green Stipes and Pink Polka Dots Dem on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:07:24 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 4)

its a massive invasion of privacy, its the man's inner thoughts.

it was so wrong that they stole his prayer. thats effing bad karma for whomever stole it. serious bad karma.


[this only reaffirms my thoughts about Obama, hes so genuine and human;]


by alyssa chaos on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:20:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

what's with the TR?


I'm as strong as a bull moose, and you can use me to the limit. - Teddy Roosevelt
by fogiv on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:54:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

Interesting.  I felt that my comment was thoughtful.  I wasn't feeling trollish when I wrote it.  

Oh well.  Elie doesn't like me, so it's probably a holdover from earlier today.


Obama/Adam West or Bruce Campbell or Lucy Lawless '08
by Purple with Green Stipes and Pink Polka Dots Dem on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 11:22:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

Nah...I'm sure it's a slip.
I'm sure Elie meant to mojo ya.  ;)
by Kysen on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:05:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

I don't know. Maybe Elie's been drinking.

She troll rated my comment below, and god knows, there have been times when I deserved it, but that wasn't one of them.


On Nov 4th, we elected "the smart guy" and the world celebrated!
by WashStateBlue on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:34:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

I bet the one below was a slip as well....maybe she is drinking!  ;)


by Kysen on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 01:17:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

ah, guys, c'mon. Do you truly think the campaign thought his little note would be left private? I wouldn't be surprised it they didn't leak it. Nothing wrong with the sentiment, of course. but it was intended for publication...


by linfar on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:19:41 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 2)

Don't you think it would have been more sophisticated, and made more political points, had it been intended for publication?


It is not because I cannot explain that you won't understand. It is because you won't understand that I cannot explain. - Elie Wiesel
by Sumo Vita on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:37:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (1.80 / 5)

Well, Linfar, I hope not.

I'm normal cynical, but in this case, I sure hope they weren't that craven to plant this


On Nov 4th, we elected "the smart guy" and the world celebrated!
by WashStateBlue on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:48:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

Elie, what was that for?

Linfar and I are not fighting, we get along just fine?

there was no troll rate deserved there?


On Nov 4th, we elected "the smart guy" and the world celebrated!
by WashStateBlue on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:34:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

Elie's ratings history doesn't match up with a tr for this one or for the one above. Like Kysen, I'm sure this was a slip. It would be like seeing a tr from me for that remark.


"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Samuel Johnson
by MS01 Indie on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 10:09:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

Indeed that is only the tip of the iceberg of his nefarious evil.  You can't see it in the picture, but he was actually crossing his fingers while placing the note.  His actual prayer was "death to the Jews and Whitey, Allahu Akbar!"


I am not a crook!
by username on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:56:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 2)

No, he wasn't crossing his fingers. He was making a mark with a small piece of chalk so the student Axelrod  hired to steal the note would know where to find it.


"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Samuel Johnson
by MS01 Indie on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:12:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Good grief (none / 0)

That is akin to saying the man is a complete fool, which is hard to believe whatever you think of him.  The risk of exposure for some cynical plot is tremendous, and the conspiracy theory is already planted - here and no doubt elsewhere - so the chance of a negative spin on this is effectively 100%.

If anyone plotted to pull this off, it wasn't Axelrod but whomever the incompetent fool is who is running Sen. McCain's campaign.


Motley Moose: Progress Through Politics
by chrisblask on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:45:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Good grief (none / 0)

I assumed the comment, like mine, was made tongue-in-cheek.  If not, MS01 Indie is hopeless.


I am not a crook!
by username on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 08:47:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Good grief (none / 0)

That was pure snark.


"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Samuel Johnson
by MS01 Indie on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 10:09:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I figgered that out afterwards (none / 0)

my snarkometer was busted...


Motley Moose: Progress Through Politics
by chrisblask on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:44:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 6)

"Do you truly think the campaign thought his little note would be left private? "

As an Israeli YES - It is sacreledge to
read notes placed at the wall.
The fact that Maariv had chose to publish it
is a disgrace.
yediot (the more widely circulated dayly) aparently
was als given a copy, but refused to publish it.

I have NEVER yet in my life heard of a note
placed at the wall that was published.


by lolo08 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:00:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 2)

And plenty of celebrities do it - their notes had never, to my knowledge, been published before.


by lolo08 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:07:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 3)

I take your word for that, and I also just asked my Jewish niece who has been visiting us for her opinion and she is shocked as well.  If Shimon Perez, Rabin and countless other world leaders among millions of average folks can put their prayers there for all these years there is no reason to think that Sen. Obama didn't expect his to be left alone as well.

I wasn't shocked and saddened by it until talking to Leyah, not being intimate with the personal meaning of the tradition, but now I am.  I would like to hear what justification this student could possibly have for prying into someone else's life this way, and what the heck the publishers were thinking...

-chris


Motley Moose: Progress Through Politics
by chrisblask on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:40:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

I suppose the Catholic equivalent would be publishing the contents of someone's confession. That it was an orthodox seminary student that did this is more puzzling. Even the cynics among us would have to assume it was about more than money.


It is not because I cannot explain that you won't understand. It is because you won't understand that I cannot explain. - Elie Wiesel
by Sumo Vita on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 10:40:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 2)

I was halfway with you on this.  I assumed that these letters would be easily culled from the wall and likely be made public.  I didn't believe that the campaign actually leaked it, or planned to do so.  

However, after reading more about this tradition, I see that the history of these notes is that they do, in fact, remain confidential.  The rabbi in charge is clearly outraged and such trespass has never occurred (as far as I've found,) for the notes of any of the countless other politicians & celebrities that have also placed them over the years.  There are about a million such notes placed in the wall each year.  Periodically, all the notes are removed and buried on the Mount of Olives.  It is a sin to read the notes, let alone publicize them.


A drink whenever Palin makes a Well-argued, Semantically Intact, Logical and Lucid Argument -- or WASILLA for short.
by January 20 on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 11:52:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

Lin-
I am a real cynic and I wouldn't have assumed that BHO's pray would be pilfered and published ,out of respect for the Wailing Wall if nothing else.
Ida B. "We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"--F.D.R.
by Ida B on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 01:22:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (none / 0)

i agree fully - this is a paper stuck on a wall visited by dozens every minute -  of course that note was edited and carefully thought out with the suspicion it would/could be made public. this doesn't mean they planted anything which seems to be what some associate with recognition of being made public. but it does, or should temper, some of the excstatic pronouncements of this as evidence that Obama is über-genuine and über-awesome.  


by swissffun on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 04:15:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 5)

nah. who ever stole the prayer is a douche bag-


by alyssa chaos on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:21:54 PM EST

Another diary (2.00 / 1)

with the actual note here:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/25/1621 25/155

I wouldn't have put this up had I seen it earlier.


It is not because I cannot explain that you won't understand. It is because you won't understand that I cannot explain. - Elie Wiesel
by Sumo Vita on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:47:50 PM EST

Re: Another diary (2.00 / 2)

I don't mind! More the better.


"Hey, check it out. You just had yourself a glue OD. So you're learning another lesson. Don't do too much glue, or your night sucks."
by vcalzone on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 11:38:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

My God (2.00 / 1)

a Politician deserving of my respect.  The man is good, damn good.


"Is there no keeping with class in whom we mingle with anymore?"
by Brandon on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:58:12 PM EST

Re: Obama's Private Prayer (2.00 / 1)

...retrieved by an orthodox seminary student...

Kids these days.


Yes, I'm aware there's a possible misogynist reading of the myth. Sorry.
by Endymion on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:47:06 AM EST


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