Visiting Israel’s Western Wall

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Visiting Israels Western Wall
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Also known as the Wailing Wall and the Kotel,
Israels Western Wall is located in the Old
Quarter of East Jerusalem. It is the holiest
shrine of the Jewish faith. It is 57 meters
tall, built of thick, corroded limestone, and is
close to 500 meters in length, though most of it
has disappeared in other structures. The wall is
believed by Jews to be the Western Wall of the
Second Temple. The temple's original location is
disputed a few Arabs historians argue that it is
part of the structure of Al Aqsa Mosque on the
Temple Mount. After the destruction of the
Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed
to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period.
Even after that they were allowed to visit once a
year on the anniversary of the destruction of the
Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy
Temple. This was the reason the wall became known
as the Wailing Wall. Jews were again not allowed
to visit the wall from 1948-1967 when it was in
the Jordanian section of the city. After the Six
Day War, the Western Wall became a place for
national rejoicing and prayer, as the last
accessible relic of the last Temple.
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Given such as history that goes back centuries,
the Western Wall has been a highly contentious
issue for generations and a visit here thus
involves a lot of emotion for the believer. For
a tourist like me, getting a glimpse into this
prevailing emotionally charged atmosphere made a
visit to this historically and religiously
important shrine a memorable experience. An
Israel tour guide took me to the Western Wall
Plaza, a large open area that faces the Wall. It
functions as an open-air synagogue that can
accommodate tens of thousands of worshipers.
Prayers take place here day and night, and
special services can also be held here. Though
entry is free to the plaza, every visitor has to
pass through metal detectors for security
clearance. Once I entered, I noticed that the
plaza was divided into three parts, one for
observers and the other two for prayers one
section for men and a smaller section for women.
Visitors must keep in mind to be respectful at
all times and not to offend the locals my tour
guide ensured that I was modestly clad, and
instructed me to avoid being loud and noisy. If
youre not adequately clad, appropriate clothes
will be made available to you.
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Observing the devout at their sacred place of
worship was an unearthly experience. People were
praying facing the wall, some were wailing,
swaying and sobbing, and others would slip
prayers written on pieces of paper into fissures
in the Wall. Hundreds of such notes were stuffed
into every accessible crevice of the wall. After
people finished praying, they avoided turning
their backs to the Wall, choosing instead to walk
backward. The Wall itself is a formidable
structure. The huge lower stones of the wall are
from the time of Herod, while the ones higher up
date from later times. The sides of the lower
stones, known as ashlars, have been carved with
such precision that they rest perfectly against
and on top of one another, without mortar. Once
I took in the whole scene, I stood back in the
plaza and realized that from this one point I
could see both the Wall and the Islamic Dome of
the Rock in one glance. The importance of this
proximity dawned upon me and I realized how years
of conflict over this shared sacred space had
converted the stones in the wall from mere stones
to witnesses of the regions turbulent history.