Talking to a Wall

A journalist assigned to Jerusalem rented an apartment overlooking the wailing wall. Every day when she looked out she could see an old Jewish man praying vigorously. So, the journalist went down and introduced herself to the old man.

​She asked him, “You come here every day to the wall. How long have you done that and what are you praying for?” 

The old man replied, “I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and then for the brotherhood of man. I go home to have a cup of tea and come back to pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth.” 

The journalist was amazed. So she asked him, “How does it make you feel to come here every day for 25 years and pray for these things?” 

The old man looked at her sadly and said, “It feels like I’m talking to a wall.”