By COLlive reporter
Anyone wanting to place a note in the Western Wall need no longer travel to Jerusalem, find a parking spot near the Old City and undergo the security check at the entrance to the wall plaza. One need not even come to Israel.
A new Web site offers those seeking to have their prayers answered a chance to “Tweet at the Kotel,” according to Ha’aretz.
The micro-blog service allows web users to send a public prayer or a private prayer or message. Every few days the messages are printed out and placed inside the cracks of the historic wall.
At Cambria Heights, Queens, the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, communication is quite efficient.
Directed by Rabbi Abba Refson, Ohel Chabad Lubavitch has a 24 hour phone (718-723-4545), fax (718-723-4444), email ([email protected]) and online form (http://ohelchabad.org/78453).
Messages and names can be submitted in any language, their website says. And “the letters are brought to the Ohel shortly after their receipt.”
But can we twitter a message to the Ohel? Not just yet.
Asked by COLlive about the option, Rabbi Refson refused to say if Twitter was being considered. “We’re looking into it,” is all he would say.
One frequent goer, who was not familiar with Twitter, told us: “Going and writing to the Rebbe is something very personal. If messages will be public on this (Twitter), it won’t be fitting.”
The Kotel Twitter, for example, recommends users send “direct messages,” which are private and not visible to the public.
its scary to think that we use technology all the time just to make things easier for ourselves, but has anyone ever thought about life being better before technology came along? we put more concentration into things. we put in effort, and once we succeeded, it was worth the while. we learned to do things by ourselves, not a comp chip spoon feeding us and telling US how to think. i think its time to put technology aside ESPCIALLY for holy and spiritual reasons and let us connect to the Rebbe and Hashem through our own avoda and kavana. to… Read more »
please let us know the final verdict
I honestly dont know the details of how twitter works, but i get the general idea. right or wrong (my personal opinion favors the latter), what would be the point? there already is a way to email in a pan, using technology to get it there quickly when you can’t go urself. so what would this twitter thing be adding anyway?
if one needs to write to the Rebbe fast, it does not really matter if it gets there a few minutes earlier or later. It is the act of writing, asking Hashem for the yeshua that does the job, and asking the Rebbe to intercede for us by Hashem. Being that all these things are spiritual things anyway, the fact that it gets into the physical Ohel 3 minutes later should not make a difference. Believing that it does, shows one is missing the point a little… We are not dealing with a machine where certain buttons have to be… Read more »
for all the above reasons!
It’s silly to have tweets to the Rebbe, if one needs to get to the rebbe fast one can:
1. write into the igros, there are real, immediate results and clear answers
2. email, fax, etc – none of them are faster than twitter.
Let’s not forget the kovod we must have for writing a p”n, it will be very sad if it just degenerates into a few words here and there.
As always, just think: is this what the rebbe wants from us?
A shlucha
When a shliach, chasid, or any one else that needs to send a P”N to the ohel in a RUSH… for what ever the reasen is…. one must use ALL MEANS that are avalble to get the INFO to the OHEL…
The E MAIL service is great, especily thast you can send EMAILS from MUST CELLPHONES… if there are MORE ways to ask something from the OHEL… it should be used….
So, you guys have come up with a great idea! Maybe Abba should just put a laptop in the Ohel, so he doesn’t have to go into the Ohel every two minutes to deliver a twitter saying that some guy came late to work in the morning and is angry at his boss. I’m sure a laptop will be more hi-tech. Of course it’s not conventional, but neither is twitter.
Point in case: They’re both silly ideas.
Faxing, even emailing, is one thing; you can still have the proper hachono, etc for writing a pan, and be able to properly and respectfully write it even if you can’t get to the Ohel yourself. Twittering, on the other hand, is by definition informal. It’s like jotting down 5 words on a sticky note and calling it a pan. Not the same thing.
I think an email is more appropriate than a tweet.
though for all of u shy about twitter and the rebbe
u cannot undermine the tech horde either be traditional or be modern u cant be both and the tech is innovating constantly
are you?
Abba Refson was there from day one after Gimmel Tamuz before there was any house or anything. OF course no funding and no kovod …a lesson in mesiras nefesh.
The same for Berel Lazar who lived in a small bare bones apartment for years in Moscow doing shlichus with mesiras nefesh. All the funding and kovod came later.
go abba refson!!
If you believe that it’s all in the deed than it might make sense…but isn’t there more too it? Isn’t it more about preparing yourself rather than than just “having your name put there”? Like someone wrote about puting on a Gartel…Is it like a pill, that you drop your name in a box and all will be well?
It’s far more effective to pray then to email Hashem your siddur every morning.
Let’s replace the doves with Tweets
V’chol maasecha b’Facebook nichtavim.
Oh please.
not funny.
si past nisht!
Please tell me this is a Purim Joke.
Do u put on a Gartel and go to mikveh before tweeting?
Anyone who grew up in Lubavitch knows that writing a P”N is a whole exercise in itself, which brings you to a higher level of connection, and emuna, and brings brochos that you need. Before going to yechidus, we would re-write the pan until it was perfect. A PN to the ohel should be no different. Praytell, how does tweeting and a P”n go hand in hand? You put on a gertel, and pour out your heart in a few short words limited by twitter all in SMS language? I wonder if those who thought of this idea ever experienced… Read more »
Maybe they should have Facebook so I could be the Rebbe’s friend?