Truth be told, I have always had an aversion to the term the "Wailing Wall", a humiliating misnomer that, for generations, was utilized by Jew and Gentile alike to identify the Kotel Hama'aravi (the Western Wall, remnant of our holy Second Temple) as the place where Jews cry.



Following the miraculous victory of the Six Day War, which, with G-d's help, liberated Judaism's sacred Jewish shrine, I naively believed Jews in the reborn State of Israel would no longer have to shed bitter tears because of a threat to our existence by internal enemies. Regretfully, I was sadly mistaken; Jews are wailing at the Wall again. Each week, while praying at the Kotel, I cannot help but shed a tear. I empathize with the heart-wrenching sobs that emanate from the very souls of both native Israelis and Jews from around the world who have come to entreat almighty G-d on behalf of Eretz Yisrael.



Rarely, however, are Israel's political leaders to be found at the Western Wall, unless it is before an election, when they are certain to have a photo opportunity. Ironically, it is precisely they - the architects of the ill-fated Oslo "peace process" and the disastrous "disengagement" plan - who should be coming to the Western Wall to beat their collective breasts and ask G-d for forgiveness. It is they who are rewarding Arab terrorist murderers with Jewish land by uprooting Jews from their homes in Eretz Yisrael.



Yes, Jews are wailing at the Wall again.



We cry that our one Jewish State is being rent asunder, as Jewish soldiers and residents of so-called "illegal settlements" confront each other, thus encouraging the murderous Arab enemies. We cry that in the much-touted Jewish and democratic state neither democracy, nor true Judaism is adhered to. The Sharon government not only flagrantly disregards ominous warnings elucidated in our holy Torah (e.g., "Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the Land...."), but Ariel Sharon himself also ignores the decision taken against "disengagement" by his own political party.



We cry that countless Jewish terror victims and their bereaved families are all but ignored and forgotten, as the Israeli government releases Arab terrorist prisoners. We cry that Israel allocates millions of shekels to the so-called "Palestinian Authority", comprised mostly of Yasser Arafat clones who seek to annihilate our one Jewish country.



And finally, a shameful and painful truth about which, perhaps, the Western Wall itself is crying. More than five decades since Hashem yitbarach, in His infinite mercy, brought the Jewish people back to our homeland, Eretz Yisrael, the majority of Jews prefer to live in the Diaspora, They prefer to live amid virulent anti-Semites rather to come home to build and settle every inch of our Promised Land.



Let us pray that the tears of anguish which are being shed daily by Jews at the Kotel will, with G-d's help, speedily be turned into tears of joy, as Israel defeats its many enemies. And never again shall wailing at the Wall be heard.