A Listening Ear

Sporadic Intelligence recently posted on visiting Kever Rochel, and she made a really good point.
Although, I'm going to approach it from a slightly different angle.

I used to visit Kever Rochel every Sunday in the afternoon, rain or shine.
I've been there since the time when it looked like the representative picture, when it was surrounded by an Arab village, and you had to ask a grocery shop owner for permission to visit the kever (gravesite).
I've been there now, as it evolved into something resembling a security compound, with those white, ominous concrete slabs surrounding it on all sides. The tomb itself is covered in camouflage netting, soldiers' lookout stations, and an Israeli flag.

I've gone on days when it has been so crowded that in order to get on and off a bus, one had better be prepared to get shoved from all angles. I've been there on her yartzheit, when candles are lit on every side of the ancient structure. I've been there on days when the only people there are me and two or three other Yerushalmi ladies, all sitting and saying Tehillim next to the paroches (curtain) made from Nava Applebaum's, A"H, wedding dress.

Somehow, it's different to me than when visiting other holy sites, like the Kotel HaMaaravi, the Western Wall. Somehow, I feel that through her zechus, my tefillos might actually make it up there. I've gone there to daven for numerous things, for friends, for family, for myself.

And each time, I come back feeling like I've been heard by Hashem. I don't know if I have the merits to reach so high, but maybe if I rely on the fact that I'm Jewish, and that I am a descendant of Mama Rochel, maybe I can get heard. It's new each time to me, unlike some places, where although I feel the Kedusha, it can wane after a while, and just become 'another' place.

So yes, I have a connection to Kever Rochel. Some feel that same feeling when they visit the Kotel, or when they head to other kevarim, or when they head to a grandparent or family member's gravesite. But I know that Mama Rochel does intercede for her children up there by the Heavenly Throne. And sometimes, we all need an advocate.