Over 60,000 mispallalim took part in the traditional main birchas kohanim on Thursday, the second day of Chol Hamoed Pesach.

The event passed without incident Baruch Hashem amid a very large noticeable police force. Magen David Adom was on hand, standing by in the event of any medical related emergency.

Police were very stringent regarding which direction mispallalim were able to walk heading to and from the Kosel, keeping the flow of pedestrian traffic to a maximum. For example, mispallalim heading to the Kosel were compelled to walk via St. James Street in the morning before the shachris birchas kohanim. Pedestrian traffic in the Arab shuk area was reserved for mispallalim walking away from the Kosel exclusively.

There was two-way pedestrian traffic from Shas Shechem, but there were restrictions on other streets in the area including the Jewish Quarter.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos Courtesy of JDN and Yaakov Kornblitt, Chadashot 24)