The Western Wall, Israel, Jewish

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some Christians may state that the Western Wall has religious significance to their religion is because Christianity was founded in Jerusalem and much of their bible takes place in that city and the land of Israel. Christians therefore consider this country as a holy place of historical significance that is a part of their heritage. Along with Jews, Christians wish for the Holy Temple to be rebuilt so praying to the Wall gives them a since of reconnecting to the past.

The vast quantity of visitors to the site was one of the main factors that influenced the decision to make the wall open to everyone. It became a custom for pilgrims and visitors to write their prayers on slips of paper and place them in the cracks of the Wall. Over a million notes are placed in the wall each year, and twice a year the rabbi of the Western Wall collects the notes and buries them in a dedicated area of the Mount Olives cemetery. Many national ceremonies, days of remembrance, and Jewish festivals were held at the Western Wall as well.

The area in the eastern section of the Western Wall was earmarked as a prayer area and the western section designated for a visitor’s space. The Western Wall also became a place for ceremonies of fallen soldiers as a Roman-Jew believed the Western Wall was intentionally left intact to provide a kind of fort for the soldiers during the Jewish War. During the 19th century, the popularity of the Western Wall grew amongst Jews as the Jewish population increased and the image of the wall began to appear in folkloristic art. The original construction of the Western Wall was built to have a large rectangular structure topped by a huge platform to create more space for the Holy Temple. This was originally done by Herod the Great, who was the one who enclosed the Temple with a set of retaining walls. Of those four retaining walls, the Western Wall was the closest to the former Temple which stems back to why this specific wall was so important. Most of what we see at the western wall today was rebuilt during the 2,000 years since the Temple was destroyed. The Western Wall now has many layers to it as people continued to add to the wall in different time periods. The original built by Herod is the visible part of the wall which consists of large stones with indented borders and seven layers of stone. The next section consists of four layers of smaller, plainer stones and dates back to the Byzantine period. The next layer up was added sometime after the Moslem conquest and the topmost layer was added in the 19th century by a British philanthropist. Seventeen more layers of Western Wall stone are buried under the ground due to many generations of destruction and rebuilding. The Western Wall has a big impact on the Jewish Community during the annual Sukkot in October when hundreds of kohanims (Jews who trace their lineage to Aaron, the High Priest) gather together and stand at the Wall to receive special blessings by the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Although everyone is welcome to the Western Wall, the holy place of worship does not allow for all members of the Jewish community to pray in the same area. Orthodox Jews strongly believe that women should not lead services and should be separated from men during prayer. Instead, women must pray at a separate area of the wall.