Western Wall

Today we took a field trip down the road to the Western Wall.  Alli, correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I understand, the Jews believe that their temple used to be built on the temple mount (where the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque currently sit) and where they believe their temple will be built again someday.  They believe that there can only be one temple and that it can only be in the spot God anointed which they believe to be on Mt. Moriah (which is currently occupied by the Muslims).  So the Western Wall is as close as they can get to their old temple without walking on the mount because they don’t want to accidentally walk on the Holy of Holies.

I didn’t know what to expect, but we passed through securities (metal detectors and armed soldiers included) and it was packed with people welcoming in the Sabbath that starts at sun down.  We gently pushed our way to the front of the pack and waited for our turn to stand in front of the wall and leave prayers in the wall.  There was a lady standing next to us with tears in her eyes.  She had waited her whole life to come get as close as she could to the fallen temple.  It was neat to see how special this place was to these people.  

As we were leaving, we found some girls from our group talking to a Jewish woman from Brooklyn, NY.  It was really neat to hear her talk about her religion and answer our questions.  She had more modern and reformed beliefs, but she had a heart of gold.  It was neat to learn more about her beliefs and feel the love she had for that place.