May 12, 2022

Burd flies to the Western Wall for 40 days of prayer

by Gil Zohar

JERUSALEM -

Burd herself and her Chicago-born husband Gershon are proof of the efficacy pf prayer but stress there are no guarantees. The two met in December 2002 a week and a half after Gershon had completed his own 40-day stint at the Kotel - where his prayers had focused on finding his beshierte (God-given match). After five dates in a whirlwind 15 days, the couple became engaged and were married two months later, she smiles.

A son and daughter quickly followed. While Gershon works as the executive director of the Yeshivas Bircas ha-Torah seminary, money is tight, Burd acknowledges.

"In our first year of marriage before this service was started, we had to rely on miracles almost weekly just to survive. I remember once we owed 200 shekels and had to pay it that day. We didn't have it, and just turned to God. A couple of hours later a friend came to the door with exactly 200 shekels. She put it in my hand and asked if I could buy a book for her on my credit card because hers wasn't working. She gave me the cash instead. That gave us 30 days to pay. And it seemed as if the whole year was like that. But we always made it, and learned that ha-Shem always provides."

Indeed Burd's biography reads as an extended miracle of Jewish survival. Her parents Efim and Anna Fefer are atheist scientists who in 1973 were able to escape Ukraine, then part of the U.S.S.R., on exit permits for Israel. Like tens of thousands of Soviet emigres, the Fefers were disappointed with the reality of life in the Jewish state. Indeed their arrival coincided with the disastrous 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In 1976, with their new-born daughter in tow, the Fefers decamped to Ostia Lido, Italy outside Rome where they waited three difficult years for a visa to Canada. Raised as a secular Jew in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, and educated at the prestigious Osgoode Hall Law School, Batya - then called Lisa Fefer - came to Israel on a life-changing 10-day Birthright trip in January 2001. The rest, she observes, is history.

Apart from Burd's legal background specializing in entertainment contracts, she is also a certified therapist trained at the Jerusalem Therapy Psycho-Spiritual Institute. Besides composing the prayers to be said verbally at the Western Wall, the former lawyer does a lot of counseling. "It's easier for a third party to see straight. Often people can't see beyond their suffering," she explains. "I use a lot of lawyerly skills."

And why does God give people issues? "To help them improve," she responds.

In May 2004 Burd decided to set up her personal prayer business. Two years later she obtained not-for-profit amuta status. Today the charity employs herself and another half-time worker, and pays 35 prayer agents "99 per cent of whom are either teaching or learning Torah."

Each surrogate worshipper spends a minimum of 10 minutes of prayer per party. Some remain for hours at the Kotel - which formed the western retaining wall of King Herod's massive enlargement of the Temple complex on Mount Moriah, and from which according to Jewish tradition God's presence is said to permanently dwell.

Burd declines to reveal payment. "It's a sensitive subject," she notes, adding the largesse is well-appreciated and well-spent by her Torah team, all of whom are spirituality rich but cash-poor.

Bottom line, since 2004 Western Wall Prayers has served more than 700 people seeking divine intervention on matters such as fertility, health or marriage. Burd points to a raft of success stories of prayers answered, the most moving of which are posted online at www.westernwallprayers.org.

Unusual requests have included divine help in being released from prison, losing weight and obtaining American citizenship. One Christian donor, who sought prayers for Jesus' resurrection, was politely declined, she says.