Romney and Wife Go to Jerusalem’s Western Wall

JERUSALEM — Mitt and Ann Romney visited one of the holiest sites in the Jewish faith today, arriving at the Western Wall on a sacred day of mourning in Israel.

The Romneys arrived via motorcade at the site of prayer and spent about 15 minutes walking to the wall and placing their prayers in the wall and got a warm reception.

The wall is split in two – one side for men and the other for women – so Ann and her female staffers approached one side, while the candidate approached the other with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz.

There were hundreds of Jewish worshippers praying at the site on this holy fasting day of Tisha B’Av and cell phones were out snapping photos of Romney. Many chanted at him as he walked slowly toward the wall.

One man started clapping. “Good luck to you,” he told Romney “God bless you.” Another shouted, “Here comes the next president!” “He is for Israel!” shouted another.

Among those with Romney were son Josh, senior adviser Dan Senor and Spencer Zwick.

Romney stood for several minutes with a man who had diagrams and looked to be describing the wall and where on the Temple Mount Romney was standing. Romney then took a piece of paper and wrote something on it. He approached the wall, bowed his head and put his right hand on the wall. After about 20 seconds he looked up and stuck his note into a space on the wall.

One man shouted, “Beat Obama, governor.! Beat Obama.” Another said, “Get rid of Obamacare.”

“Mr. Romney, say hello to Georgia!” one man said.

Romney looked over his shoulder and waved. “Hello, Georgia.”

The Wailing Wall, as the wall is also known as, is the outside wall that surrounded the second temple. Today is said to be the day that the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, leading to the Tisha B’Av