The Western Wall

A trip to Jerusalem would not be complete without seeing the Western Wall of the Temple in Old Jerusalem.  Here are some facts taken from the internet:

• The Western is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount.
• The Western Wall is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple’s courtyard and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself.
• Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great. The remaining layers were added from the 7th century onwards.
• The Western Wall refers not only to the exposed section facing a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, but also to the sections concealed behind structures running along the whole length of the Temple Mount, such as the Little Western Wall – a 25 ft (8 m) section in the Muslim Quarter.
• It has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, the earliest source mentioning Jewish attachment to the site dating from the 4th century.
• From the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none were successful.
• With the rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th-century, the wall became a source of friction between the Jewish community and the Muslim religious leadership, who were worried that the wall was being used to further Jewish nationalistic claims to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem.
• Outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace and an international commission was convened in 1930 to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the wall.
• After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the wall came under Jordanian control and Jews were barred from the site for 19 years until Israel captured the Old City in 1967.

Two observations – 1) The area is divided into two sections, one for women and one for men. (Men are required to cover their heads; many women did also, but not all.) 2) The cracks and holes in the wall are stuffed with papers on which prayers are written. (This reminded me of prayer rolls today where names of individuals are submitted to be remembered in prayers.)  It was interesting to watch the sincerity of those who were there to worship, not all that different from what we see in modern temples.