Jerusalem Attractions

Venue: Temple Mount    When: Daily

The holiest shrine of the Jewish world, the Wailing Wall is the only remainder of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, razed in 70AD by the armed intervention of Roman forces under Titus.

The Wailing Wall, the remaining western wall of the Second Temple, represents for Jews throughout the world the covenant of God with the Jewish people. It is predicted that the Wall will never be destroyed and that its indestructibility mirrors the historical resilience of the Jewish nation through exile and hardship.

For many centuries now, the wall has been an object of pilgrimage for Jews, as they come to Jerusalem to remind themselves of their historical heritage and their common origins. Since the Temple was the main channel between Man and God and the wall is the only remaining part of it, it is customary for pilgrims and visitors to place little notes and folded prayers in the cracks of the wall, as messages to God.

Gentiles among you will be glad to hear that when King Solomon built and consecrated the Temple, he specifically asked of God that he heed the prayers of righteous non-Jews within the temple walls. The temple was intended to be an interfaith centre of spirituality and this was to include those non-Jews who heeded the seven Noachide laws, ie: the laws set down in the Torah as to the righteous behaviour of those who were not Jews or not converted to Judaism. These were: Do not murder, do not steal, do not worship false gods, do not be sexually immoral, do not eat the limb of an animal before it is killed, do not curse God, and set up courts and bring offenders to justice. Maimonides, a 12th-century Jewish sage and commentator, states that any man or woman who follows these laws will gain a place in heaven.