Obama’s Kotel Note Exposed by Israeli Boy, the Media

Of all the stories that have surfaced about Barack Obama in light of his election campaign, I bet he wasn’t expecting this particular bit of information to appear in the morning paper.

Barack Obama just got back from a tour abroad (you might have heard something about it?), including a stop over in Israel. There, in the city of Jerusalem, the presidential hopeful donned his Obamulke and put in his two cents to The Big Guy in the form of a personal note he wedged into a crack in the kotel.

Obviously, he thought the note was going to stay private. But, no – thanks to an anonymous (though now easily identified by the egg on his face) yeshiva student, the note was snatched out of the Western Wall cracks and handed over to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

So while American media outlets were still LOLing over their own satirical versions of Obama’s prayer note, they were getting totally scooped by the Israeli press. Oh, snap.

The note, handwritten on King David Hotel room stationery went like this:

Lord –

Protect my family and me. 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.

Hey, you didn’t read it here first.

After the whole note publishing affair was condemned by head Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinovitz, the same note-snatching yeshiva student appeared on Israeli Channel 2 news to publicly apologize. Or, at least as public as you can get when your face is totally obscured and your name is listed only as “Alef,” the first letter of your name.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It was kind of a prank. I hope he wasn’t hurt.” Only time will tell whether the note will help or harm Obama, we’re guessing it will probably only add a hint of mystery and charm to Obama’s mystique. But for now, thanks in part to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the note has been safely returned to the kotel cracks.