Scenes from the Wall

The northeastern United States did not see the sun for most of this week,

in Jerusalem it is hard to even imagine so much rain:

all the thousands of visitors just get the expected sunny days.

At the Kotel, the Western Wall,

there are old stones

and new signs.

Some days much is

black and white,

but not all is black

or bar mitzvah white,

or army green.

In winter

and in summer

there is color, too.

Pink shirts

and blue hats,

color from balloons

and costumes from around the world

are at the Kotel.

The month of Elul before Rosh Hashana, the New Year,

is an especially colorful time of the year

with even more visitors, and the blasts of the shofar heard every morning.

However, getting to the Kotel

can be very difficult because of the many flights of stairs.

Construction of an elevator has recently been proposed.

Not having to climb the difficult steps will be a great thing for many people

and make the site accessible to many who now cannot enjoy the scenes.