Paper Publishes Obama's Western Wall Prayer

During his trip to Israel this week, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama left a written prayer in the cracks of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. According to the AP, the Maariv Daily, an Israeli newspaper, has published the prayer.

Dad, things are great here. Please send more money. Love, Barack.

I kid. I'm actually not going to reprint the prayer here, but you can check out the AP story if you really want to.

It may seem paradoxical to make a joke about the prayer, then refuse to reprint, but there are two principles at work here. In comedy, nothing is sacred. In a democracy, privacy is sacred.

The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall agrees:

The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, said publishing the note intruded in Obama's relationship with God.

"The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them," he told Army Radio. The publication "damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves," he said.

The AP story goes on to say that the note was removed from the wall by a seminary student immediately after Obama left the site. Look for it on Ebay.

The Obama campaign has yet to comment on the story.