聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Chief George Cote of Cote First Nation says it was an honour to pray for First Nation people at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Cote was in Israel from November 7 to 16 on a tour organized by Pastor Edmund Jordan, a friend from Allman House, a church group in Regina.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t was an experience and a half,鈥� Cote said last week as he discussed his trip.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e saw so many people from different nations,鈥� he said, adding that many of the people he met had wanted to take pictures of him wearing his chief鈥檚 headdress. 鈥淓ven the rabbis said that First Nation people are special.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While in Israel, Cote said that the group was able to see a number of biblical sites and went to the Holocaust Museum where he said he was able to identify similarities to what the First Nations people had experienced.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭hat put a lot into perspective regarding what we鈥檙e striving for,鈥� Cote said.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Jerusalem鈥檚 Wailing Wall, or Western Wall as it is known in Hebrew, is one of the holiest sites in the world,says an account on Wikipedia. Today, it is the only remnant of the holy edifice that stood on the Temple Mount. It is called the Wailing Wall based on the Jewish practice of mourning the destruction of the Temple and praying for its rebuilding at the site of the Western Wall.
The聽Wall is adjacent to the location of many critical events in Jewish history, the account says. Here, Abraham demonstrated his devotion to God through his willingness to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. This is the location where Isaac went to pray before meeting Rebecca, and where Jacob dreamed of the famous ladder reaching the heavens. This is also the very place where the Holy Temple would eventually be built.
In the present day, the Temple Mount still stands in this location, bereft without a Temple for all the nations of the world.
