Farewell to the Western Wall Man

During the Holocaust,
the Nazi officer told him
that he would never see Jerusalem again.
And after he had survived the Holocaust,
he decided to see Jerusalem.
Every day all day.
Excited by the privilege of being
the cleaning worker of the Western Wall plaza.
On the man of the Western Wall
who is no longer there.
Sivan Rahav Meir reports:

Simcha Kepeld, son-in-law of the late Benjamin Wurzberger, of blessed memory:
Grandpa, our beloved.
The last survivors of the terrible terror
of our family in a cursed land.

Benjamin Wurzberger this week
was brought to rest in Jerusalem,
at the age of 95,
or in other words,
Benjamin the man of the Western Wall,
is gone.

He was born in Hungary,
lost his entire family in the Holocaust,
rolled between camps,
and in the concentration camp from Mathausen,
an experience was burned in him
that changed his life.

There was a particularly cruel commander,
who enjoyed standing in line before the food distribution.
A total of a whole slice of bread.
And he would say, you are accursed Jews.
Dar Fruchta Yodan (Yiddish).
You dream of Jerusalem?
You'll all be snuffed out here.
You will all go through the chimney,
you will not have the privilege of reaching Jerusalem.

But Benjamin won, lost everything,
and with only his clothes on his body,
he went up to the land (Israel).
The British first sent the ship to Cyprus,
where he met Miriam, who became his wife.

When I arrived in the country,
the first road I took was to the Western Wall.

He was in the Haganah,
worked in the construction sector,
and for about 50 years the family lived in Afula.
But when he retired, Benjamin decided
to make the dream come true.
To be at the Western Wall all day.
Thus at the age of 70
he applied to be accepted there,
as a cleaning worker.

I said to the manager, look,
I want to work here,
I have a conscientious obligation.
Then the manager said, look,
you will not be able to work,
you are already an older man,
here the work is hard.
I said you will see
what I can do, and then you decide.

I saw the neglected, cobwebs, the filthy floors,
so I took a brush and acid,
and on four I scrubbed the floor.
They scattered wafers, Bisli.
I took care to clean after each group,
that there will not be a trace of grain,
a piece of paper, a cigarette.

But he did not only clean,
he was also an educator.
Benjamin has become a symbol.
Tens of thousands of visitors
from all over the country and the world
have met him over the years.

We decided that every official guest
of the State of Israel who comes to us,
must meet Benjamin.
He says to every official guest,
I weighed 26 pounds,
and my lips murmured for
next year in Jerusalem.
They murdered the whole family,
and my lips murmured for
next year in Jerusalem.

To the many groups that came
to the Western Wall
he said again and again
about the same moments,
about the same promise
he made himself back then,
to come to Jerusalem in spite of everything.

The officer said are you damned Jews,
thinking and dreaming of Jerusalem?
None of you will have the privilege
of coming to Jerusalem.

By the grace of God,
I was privileged to come out of the abyss.
And the same stones that were for us
a source of hope.
I was able to achieve, with my hands,
as if the time of the messiah has arrived.

It is impossible to say that a man
who smiles every day with his face lit up
has been through so much.

We wish all of us that
we will always seek
only the good and the beautiful.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

The man that for 20 years
came here at 6am every morning,
also in rain and even snow,
the man that wore every time
with excitement his work clothes,
was not at the Kotel today.

"I instructed a group today,
and I could not introduce them to Binyamin",
one of the instructors said.
For me this man was every morning,
a small encounter with eternity.
Benjamin, the man of the wall,
may his memory be blessed.



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