Thousands of Jewish worshippers attend priestly blessing ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall

Thousands of Jewish worshipers are convened at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for the traditional priestly blessing ceremony, held semi-annually during the intermediate periods of Passover and Sukkot.

The priestly blessing, known as “birkat kohanim” in Hebrew, involved male descendants of the Kohanim priestly class, who raise their hands and wrap themselves in their prayer shawls before chanting the ancient prayer.

Israeli police have blocked off the entrance to the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Outside the Western Wall complex, some elderly Orthodox Jews are requesting charity from passersby as they enter the site, while others sell flags depicting the ancient temple in Jerusalem.

After the blessing ends, Israeli Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef lead the crowd in the continuation of shacharit, the daily morning prayer.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the official rabbi of the Western Wall, invokes the hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza, noting that he and the other organizers are sitting beside members of two hostage families descended from the priestly class.

“With us today is the Cohen family, whose son Eliya, the son of Sigalit, is in captivity, and the Halfon family, whose son Segev, the son of Galit, is in captivity,” he says.