Ruto and First Lady Rachel pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
Kenya’s President William Samoei Ruto and his wife, First Lady Rachel Ruto, arrived in Israel on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, and met the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, at his residence in Jerusalem.
The two leaders agreed to expand their cooperation in trade, agriculture, security, and technology.
While in Israel, the President and his wife took the time to head to the Wailing Wall in the holy city of Jerusalem, where they stood in prayer. President Ruto and his wife identify as born-again Christians and this was one of the pillars they used in their presidential campaigns in the August 2022 General Election.
The Wailing Wall, also known as the Western Wall, is one of the holy sites located in Israel.
According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the Wailing Wall reaches a height of 40 meters above the bedrock of the eastern hill of Jerusalem, also known as Mount Moriah.
It is at the Prayer Plaza where the faithful gather to pray and wail because it serves as a synagogue.
The Foundation further stated that the Western Wall is one of the four supporting walls of the Temple Mount that remained after the destruction of The Second Temple, and it is closest in proximity to the site of the Holy of Holies, the most sacred location in the Temple for the Jewish. The Western Wall is the last remnant of the original wall surrounding the Second Temple.
It is at this wall where Jews focus their prayers, yearnings, and wailing; and it is the location for many formal ceremonies in Israel. In between the stones that form the Western Wall, the faithful leave little notes with their prayers and prayer requests in their cracks; and then they are later removed by staffs who bury them on the Mount of Olives.
The President and the First Lady are known to call for national prayer for a myriad of reasons. Over the course of their Presidency so far, they have called for prayers against the spread of lesbianism, gayism and transgender lifestyles, prayers for the end of the drought in the country and to pray for Kenya’s declining economy. It was also reported that First Lady Rachel Ruto had appointed several religious leaders to assist her in her prayer drives to pray for Kenya.
Their prayers come after gospel singer Reuben Kigame called for a solemn national fast for today, May 10, 2023, saying that Kenya was on the path to destruction and only God’s forgiveness would set Kenya back on the right path. He stated rampant corruption, blood shedding, and the church being used to divide Kenya along political lines as the major reasons why Kenyans should fast.
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