The Weeping Wall in Jerusalem. What are the stones crying about?

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

More than three thousand years have passed since the reign of King Solomon. Under him, a majestic Temple was built, where relics sacred to the Jewish people were kept. The building was erected on top of a high mountain. The architects who worked on this specific project came up with the idea of laying a wide beautiful staircase from white stone monoliths to the Temple. The result was a real miracle!

The building was created not as a monument to the king, but as a holy place of God, designed to bring divine revelations closer to the people. Throughout the history of the state, the Temple was destroyed, restored, destroyed again. But the sacred place still managed to be preserved - and to this day it identifies the heart of all Jews. And the Weeping Wall (Western Wall of the Temple) in the modern world is considered a symbol of the past and hope for the future.

It is worth saying that initially the Wailing Wall did not possess special holiness. It was just a defensive structure around the Temple Mount. Later, King Herod began to strengthen it, eventually creating a reliable and powerful fortification. Today, the Weeping Wall in Jerusalem, built by thousands of people more than two millennia ago, is a symbol of rebirth, the embodiment of all the desires of the people for whom Israel is their native land. The sanctity of this place has only increased over the years. Generations followed one after another, and the structure built for defense became a sign of the firm spirit of the Jews.

Once the Weeping Wall in Israel was part of a city street. People lived here, trade was carried out. No one prayed near it - believers preferred to do it near the walls in the southern and eastern parts of the city. The fact that this place will become a shrine for the entire Israeli people, then no one could even think. The Weeping Wall gained general recognition in the 16th century, at a time when Jerusalem became subject to the Ottoman Empire. It was then that a new story began for the construction. Today it is an object of pilgrimage for all Jews; according to tradition, they must come here three times a year.

In general, the Weeping Wall has a very rich, sometimes even tragic history. In 1948, during the Israeli War of Independence, the sacred site was captured by the Jordanian Legion. Although under the terms of the armistice reached in 1949, Jews were allowed to visit it, in practice this was hardly respected. Only in 1967, the paratroopers of the Israeli army liberated Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, and at the same time the Western Wall. Finally, everyone who wished had the opportunity to pray near the sacred place. The Weeping Wall is available to everyone.

Today you can see people praying here at any time. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit Israel to touch the shrine, ask the Almighty forthe most intimate, to leave a note between the stones with a request to God. According to tradition, to pray, men approach the Wall from the left, and women from the right. The grandiose synagogue under the Israeli sky is also a place for all kinds of ceremonies and rituals of the Jewish people. The square in front of the Wall hosts state celebrations, and Israeli army recruits take the oath here.