[Avodah] western wall

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 06:01:17PM -0400, Michael Makovi wrote:
: Good question. In the popular consciousness, the Kotel is holy, but
: k'halacha, is there any true significance to it? I would think that it
: is just a stam a bunch of stones that just happen to hold up har
: ha-bayit.

According to Briskers (both US and Israel), qedushas Har haBayis starts at
the *outside* of the wall. I'm not sure if that's vadai or safeiq (starts
or "be careful, it might start"). And so (aside from them considering it a
silly practice) both RYBS and his uncle suggested that someone who insists
on putting a note into the kotel do so with a pen cap -- not their finger!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to
micha at aishdas.org        suffering, but only to one's own suffering.
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