While the Day of Atonement passed in Paletine without incident, the services at the Wailing Wall concluded with a discordant note. At sundown, while the worshippers, spent after 24 hours of fast and the day-long prayers, stood waiting for the blowing of the Shofar, which did not come because of the Grand Mufti’s protest, a muezzin emerged from the new door recently cut beside the Wall, leading to the Mosque area, and began calling the Moslems to prayer.
Indignation over the unprecedented prohibition of the blowing of the Shofar was increased with the appearance of the muezzin. Many who were ignorant that this has been the practice for several months, since the opening of the new door, were incensed that the moment when the blowing of the Shofar was to mark the conclusion of the Yom Kippur services was chosen for the muezzin’s call. Many in the congregation before the Wall began reciting psalms to drown out the muezzin’s call.
After the cantor and the congregation had proclaimed seven times, “Jehovah is God,” the sexton told the worshippers to repair to the nearest
(Continued on Page 4)
(Continued from Page 1) synagogue to hear the blowing of the Shofar, but the worshippers stood, insistent on hearing it there.
The unseemly spectacle of two sets of worshippers petitioning the Divinity as competitors, must be written down to the inept administration’s yielding to the Grand Mufti’s bullying, his demands for restricting the Jews growing daily more insolent and culminating in his objections to the blowing of the Shofar on the allegation that the Turkish decision of 1912 allows Jews to visit the shrine but not to raise their voice.
Special precautions against the possibility of outbreaks during the Yom Kippur services were taken by the police authorities, especially in the area near the Wailing Wall, similar to measures taken during Rosh Hashanah. Guards in Jewish quarters were reinforced, since, due to continuous services in the synagogues on the Day of Atonement, the occupants would be absent from their houses, which might become a prey to thieves unless well guarded.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
