The 45th day of the Omer. Rosh Chodesh Sivan. A Sunday. The buzz on the street is tomorrow's elections.

Today we took it up a notch. We performed the Trumat HaLishka ceremony at the Kotel, the western wall of the Temple Mount, sort of. It was without a doubt the most mobile ceremony to date. If anyone had an overhead camera suspended over the western wall plaza and filmed it, and then replayed it in fast foward, you'd be rolling on the floor laughing watching it.

When I scouted out the area the previous week, I sought a place where we could have the Kotel as a back-drop without having to enter any of the security zones. I settled on a spot right in front of the entrance gate to the right, alongside the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, right next to the #1 bus stop. It afforded only a partial view of the Kotel and a sliver of the Dome. Walking back towards the Jewish Quarter stairs I ascended the new section that leads directly from the bus stop to the stairway without having to go around and pass security. Where the new section meets the stairs there is a small area, right next to but outside the security booth. As I paused to take in the view of the Kotel, I realized that I had found the perfect spot, an eye-level Kotel and Dome back-drop.

We arrived with the chest for New Shekels at 1:00 pm and carried the chest up the stairs to the area I had chosen, and set up the basket and lock-box. I began handing out fliers and explaining what we were doing to those ascending and descending the stairs. After about 30 minutes the guard came out of the booth and told us we had to move, he didn't care where, up or down, we couldn't stay there. My explanation that the Brinks guards were coming at 2:00 pm and we would be out of there 5 minutes later did not move him. Up or down? You mean we can take this down to the Kotel? "I don't care - just move it!" So we did. We took it all the way down to the Kotel, and once again set up the basket and lock-box, and began handing out fliers and explaining. After about 15 minutes, an elderly gentleman emerged and somewhat officially inquired what it was we were doing. I explained it to him and he retreated. Five minutes later two elderly gentlemen, introducing theselves as representatives of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, accompanyed by a contingent of uniformed police officers welcomed our leaving the area immediately. They ushered us out the gate and we found ourselves at exactly the place I had first chosen last week. So I guess that's where we were suposed to do it. This time.

At every stop along the way, we were surrounded by crowds of people curious to know what this was all about. From eight years old to eighty years old, men and women, inundated us with questions.

At 2:00 pm the Brinks guards arrived and we began the ceremony with the reading of chapter three of Mishnah Shekalim, describing the ancient custom we were about to perform.

The honor of opening the chest was given to a Bat Levi who came dressed in Beged Ivri. Interestingly, the second most asked question was, 'Why did we include a woman in the ceremony?' Of course, as long as Am Yisrael leaves us to arrange everything, we're going to do it right. When the powers that be awaken and take this away from us, hopefully we will have already established a fact on the ground that B'not Levi (the daughters of Levi) are included.

The ceremony performed, the Brinks guards delivered the lock-box full of Hekdesh, to the vault of the Chief Rabbinate's Office, delivered the keys to the two Chief Rabbi's secretaries, and called in that all was well.

The fifth Trumat HaLishka ceremony to be performed since the year 70 now enters "our story" (as opposed to "history"). Mission accomplished!