Western Wall
הכותל המערבי (HaKotel HaMa'aravi) | |
Alternative name | [The] Wailing Wall [The] Kotel Al-Buraq Wall الْحَائِط ٱلْبُرَاق (Ḥā’iṭ al-Burāq) |
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Location | Jerusalem |
Coordinates | 31°46′36″N 35°14′04″E / 31.7767°N 35.2345°E |
Type | Ancient limestone wall |
Part of | Temple Mount |
Length | 488 metres (1,601 ft) |
Height | Exposed: 19 metres (62 ft) |
History | |
Builder | Herod the Great |
Material | Limestone |
Founded | 19 BCE |
Site notes | |
Condition | Preserved |
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The Western Wall (
Just over half the wall's total height, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, and is believed to have been begun by Herod the Great.[2] The very large stone blocks of the lower courses are Herodian, the courses of medium-sized stones above them were added during the Umayyad period, while the small stones of the uppermost courses are of more recent date, especially from the Ottoman period.
The Western Wall plays an important role in Judaism due to its proximity to the Temple Mount, the traditional site of the
The Western Wall constitutes the western border of
With the rise of the
Etymology
Western Wall
Early Jewish texts referred to a "western wall of the Temple",[10] but there is doubt whether the texts were referring to the outer, retaining wall called today "the Western Wall", or to the western wall of the actual Temple.[5] The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term "ha-kotel ha-ma'aravi", "the Western Wall", as referring to the wall visible today, was by the 11th-century poet Ahimaaz ben Paltiel.[5]
Wailing Wall
The name "Wailing Wall", and descriptions such as "wailing place", appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century.[11][12][13] The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the destruction of the Temple and the loss of national freedom it symbolized.[5]
Jews may often be seen sitting for hours at the Wailing-place bent in sorrowful meditation over the history of their race, and repeating oftentimes the words of the Seventy-ninth Psalm. On Fridays especially, Jews of both sexes, of all ages, and from all countries, assemble in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones and weep outside the precincts they may not enter.
Charles Wilson, 1881[14]
Al-Buraq Wall
Muslims have associated the name Al-Buraq with the wall at least since the 1860s.[15]
Location, dimensions, stones
Prayer section vs. entire wall
The term Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot (57 m) exposed section of a much longer retaining wall, built by Herod on the western flank of the Temple Mount. Only when used in this sense is it synonymous with the term Wailing Wall. This section faces a large plaza and is set aside for prayer.
In its entirety, the western retaining wall of the Herodian Temple Mount complex stretches for 1,600 feet (488 m), most of which is hidden behind medieval residential structures built along its length.
There are only two other revealed sections: the southern part of the Wall (see Robinson's Arch area), which measures approximately 80 metres (262 ft), and is separated from the prayer area by just a narrow stretch of archaeological remains; and another, much shorter section, known as the Little Western Wall, which is located close to the Iron Gate.
The entire western wall functions as a retaining wall, supporting and enclosing the ample substructures built by Herod the Great around 19 BCE. Herod's project was to create an artificial extension to the small quasi-natural plateau on which the
Height, courses, building stones
At the Western Wall Plaza, the total height of the Wall from its foundation is estimated at 105 feet (32 m), with the above-ground section standing approximately 62 feet (19 m) high. The Wall consists of 45 stone courses, 28 of them above ground and 17 underground.
The next four courses, consisting of smaller plainly dressed stones, are
History
Construction and destruction (19 BCE–70 CE)
According to the
Late Roman and Byzantine periods (135–638)
During much of the 2nd–5th centuries of the
Archaeology
Discovery of underground rooms that could have been used as food storage carved out of the bedrock under the 1,400-year-old mosaic floor of Byzantine structure was announced by Israel Antiquities Authority in May in 2020.
"At first we were very disappointed because we found we hit the bedrock, meaning that the material culture, the human activity here in Jerusalem ended. What we found here was a rock-cut system—three rooms, all hewn in the bedrock of ancient Jerusalem" said co-director of the excavation Barak Monnickendam-Givon.[31]
Early Muslim to Mamluk period (638–1517)
Several Jewish authors of the 10th and 11th centuries write about the Jews resorting to the Western Wall for devotional purposes.
Shortly after Saladin's 1187 siege of the city, in 1193, the sultan's son and successor al-Afdal established the land adjacent to the wall as a charitable trust (waqf). The largest part of it was named after an important mystic, Abu Madyan Shu'aib. The Abu Madyan waqf was dedicated to Maghrebian pilgrims and scholars who had taken up residence there, and houses were built only metres away from the wall, from which they were thus separated by just a narrow passageway,[41] some 4 metres (13 ft) wide.[citation needed]
The first likely mention of the Islamic tradition that Buraq was tethered at the site is from the 14th century. A manuscript by Ibrahim b. Ishaq al-Ansari (known as Ibn Furkah, d. 1328) refers to Bab al-Nabi (lit. "Gate of the Prophet"), an old name for
Ottoman period (1517–1917)
In 1517, the Turkish
Over the centuries, land close to the Wall became built up. Public access to the Wall was through the
This wall is visited by all our brothers on every feast and festival; and the large space at its foot is often so densely filled up, that all cannot perform their devotions here at the same time. It is also visited, though by less numbers, on every Friday afternoon, and by some nearly every day. No one is molested in these visits by the Mahomedans, as we have a very old
firman from the Sultan of Constantinople that the approach shall not be denied to us, though the Porte obtains for this privilege a special tax, which is, however, quite insignificant.[49]
Over time the increased numbers of people gathering at the site resulted in tensions between the Jewish visitors who wanted easier access and more space, and the residents, who complained of the noise.[4] This gave rise to Jewish attempts at gaining ownership of the land adjacent to the Wall.
In the late 1830s a wealthy Jew named Shemarya Luria attempted to purchase houses near the Wall, but was unsuccessful,
In 1887
In 1895 Hebrew linguist and publisher Rabbi
Decrees (firman)s issued regarding the Wall:
Year | Issued by | Content |
---|---|---|
c. 1560 | Suleiman the Magnificent | Official recognition of the right of Jews to pray by the Wall[60][61] |
1840 | Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt | Forbidding the Jews to pave the passage in front of the Wall. It also cautioned them against "raising their voices and displaying their books there." They were, however, allowed "to pay visits to it as of old."[4] |
1841* | Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt | "Of the same bearing and likewise to two others of 1893 and 1909"[4] |
1889* | Abdul Hamid II | That there shall be no interference with the Jews' places of devotional visits and of pilgrimage, that are situated in the localities which are dependent on the Chief Rabbinate, nor with the practice of their ritual.[4] |
1893* | Confirming firman of 1889[4] | |
1909* | Confirming firman of 1889[4] | |
1911 | Administrative Council of the Liwa | Prohibiting the Jews from certain appurtenances at the Wall[4]
|
- These firmans were cited by the Jewish contingent at the International Commission, 1930, as proof for rights at the Wall. Muslim authorities responded by arguing that historic sanctions of Jewish presence were acts of tolerance shown by Muslims, who, by doing so, did not concede any positive rights.[62]
British rule (1917–48)
In December 1917, Allied forces under
In 1919 Zionist leader
The acceptance of the proposals, had it been practicable, would have obviated years of wretched humiliations, including the befouling of the Wall and pavement and the unmannerly braying of the tragi-comic Arab band during Jewish prayer, and culminating in the horrible outrages of 1929.[64]
In early 1920, the first Jewish-Arab dispute over the Wall occurred when the Muslim authorities were carrying out minor repair works to the Wall's upper courses. The Jews, while agreeing that the works were necessary, appealed to the British that they be made under supervision of the newly formed Department of Antiquities, because the Wall was an ancient relic.[67]
According to Hillel Halkin, in the 1920s, among rising tensions with the Jews regarding the wall, the Arabs ceased using the more traditional name El-Mabka, "the Place of Weeping", which related to Jewish practices, and replaced it with El-Burak, a name with Muslim connotations.[5]
In 1926 an effort was made to lease the Maghrebi waqf, which included the wall, with the plan of eventually buying it.
In 1928 the
September 1928 disturbances
In 1922, a Status Quo agreement issued by the mandatory authority forbade the placing of benches or chairs near the Wall. The last occurrence of such a ban was in 1915, but the Ottoman decree was soon retracted after intervention of the
On September 24, 1928, the Day of Atonement, British police resorted to removing by force a screen used to separate men and women at prayer. Women who tried to prevent the screen being dismantled were beaten by the police, who used pieces of the broken wooden frame as clubs. Chairs were then pulled out from under elderly worshipers. The episode made international news and Jews the world over objected to the British action. Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the Chief Rabbi of the ultraorthodox Jews in Jerusalem, issued a protest letter on behalf of his community, the Edah HaChareidis, and Agudas Yisroel strongly condemning the desecration of the holy site. Various communal leaders called for a general strike. A large rally was held in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, following which an angry crowd attacked the local police station in which they believed Douglas Valder Duff, the British officer involved, was sheltering.[71]
Commissioner Edward Keith-Roach described the screen as violating the Ottoman status quo that forbade Jews from making any construction in the Western Wall area. He informed the Jewish community that the removal had been carried out under his orders after receiving a complaint from the Supreme Muslim Council. The Arabs were concerned that the Jews were trying to extend their rights at the wall and with this move, ultimately intended to take possession of the Masjid Al-Aqsa.[72] The British government issued an announcement explaining the incident and blaming the Jewish beadle at the Wall. It stressed that the removal of the screen was necessary, but expressed regret over the ensuing events.[71]
A widespread Arab campaign to protest against presumed Jewish intentions and designs to take possession of the Al Aqsa Mosque swept the country and a "Society for the Protection of the Muslim Holy Places" was established.[73] The Jewish National Council (Vaad Leumi) responding to these Arab fears declared in a statement that "We herewith declare emphatically and sincerely that no Jew has ever thought of encroaching upon the rights of Moslems over their own Holy places, but our Arab brethren should also recognise the rights of Jews in regard to the places in Palestine which are holy to them."[72] The committee also demanded that the British administration expropriate the wall for the Jews.[74]
From October 1928 onward, Mufti
A British inquiry into the disturbances and investigation regarding the principal issue in the Western Wall dispute, namely the rights of the Jewish worshipers to bring appurtenances to the wall, was convened. The Supreme Muslim Council provided documents dating from the Turkish regime supporting their claims. However, repeated reminders to the Chief Rabbinate to verify which apparatus had been permitted failed to elicit any response. They refused to do so, arguing that Jews had the right to pray at the Wall without restrictions.[78] Subsequently, in November 1928, the Government issued a White Paper entitled "The Western or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem: Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies", which emphasised the maintenance of the status quo and instructed that Jews could only bring "those accessories which had been permitted in Turkish times."[79]
A few months later, Haj Amin complained to
1929 Palestine riots
In the summer of 1929, the Mufti Haj Amin Al Husseinni ordered an opening be made at the southern end of the alleyway which straddled the Wall. The former cul-de-sac became a thoroughfare which led from the Temple Mount into the prayer area at the Wall. Mules were herded through the narrow alley, often dropping excrement. This, together with other construction projects in the vicinity, and restricted access to the Wall, resulted in Jewish protests to the British, who remained indifferent.[78]
On August 14, 1929, after attacks on individual Jews praying at the Wall, 6,000 Jews demonstrated in Tel Aviv, shouting "The Wall is ours." The next day, the Jewish fast of
1930 international commission
In 1930, in response to the 1929 riots, the British Government appointed a commission "to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall", and to determine the causes of the violence and prevent it in the future. The League of Nations approved the commission on condition that the members were not British.
The Commission noted that "the Jews do not claim any proprietorship to the Wall or to the Pavement in front of it (concluding speech of Jewish Counsel, Minutes, page 908)."
The Commission concluded that the wall, and the adjacent pavement and Moroccan Quarter, were solely owned by the Muslim
The recommendations of the Commission were brought into law by the Palestine (Western or Wailing Wall) Order in Council, 1931, which came into effect on June 8, 1931.[82] Persons violating the law were liable to a fine of 50 pounds or imprisonment up to 6 months, or both.[82]
During the 1930s, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, young Jews persistently flouted the shofar ban each year and blew the shofar resulting in their arrest and prosecution. They were usually fined or sentenced to imprisonment for three to six months. The Shaw commission determined that the violence occurred due to "racial animosity on the part of the Arabs, consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future."
Jordanian rule (1948–67)
During the
"Al Buraq (Wailing Wall) Rd" sign
During the Jordanian rule of the Old City, a ceramic street sign in Arabic and English was affixed to the stones of the ancient wall. Attached 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) up, it was made up of eight separate ceramic tiles and said Al Buraq Road in Arabic at the top with the English "Al-Buraq (Wailing Wall) Rd" below. When Israeli soldiers arrived at the wall in June 1967, one attempted to scrawl Hebrew lettering on it.[89] The Jerusalem Post reported that on June 8, Ben-Gurion went to the wall and "looked with distaste" at the road sign; "this is not right, it should come down" and he proceeded to dismantle it.[90] This act signaled the climax of the capture of the Old City and the ability of Jews to once again access their holiest sites.[91] Emotional recollections of this event are related by David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres.[92]
First years under Israeli rule (1967–69)
Declarations after the conquest
Following Israel's victory during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Western Wall came under Israeli control. Brigadier Rabbi Shlomo Goren proclaimed after its capture that "Israel would never again relinquish the Wall", a stance supported by Israeli Minister for Defence Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff General Yitzhak Rabin.[93] Rabin described the moment Israeli soldiers reached the Wall:
"There was one moment in the Six-Day War which symbolized the great victory: that was the moment in which the first paratroopers—under Gur's command—reached the stones of the Western Wall, feeling the emotion of the place; there never was, and never will be, another moment like it. Nobody staged that moment. Nobody planned it in advance. Nobody prepared it and nobody was prepared for it; it was as if Providence had directed the whole thing: the paratroopers weeping—loudly and in pain—over their comrades who had fallen along the way, the words of the Kaddish prayer heard by Western Wall's stones after 19 years of silence, tears of mourning, shouts of joy, and the singing of "Hatikvah"".[94]
Demolition of the Moroccan Quarter
Forty-eight hours after capturing the wall, the military, without explicit government order,
According to Eyal Weizman, Chaim Herzog, who later became Israel's sixth president, took much of the credit for the destruction of the neighbourhood:
When we visited the Wailing Wall we found a toilet attached to it ... we decided to remove it and from this we came to the conclusion that we could evacuate the entire area in front of the Wailing Wall ... a historical opportunity that will never return ... We knew that the following Saturday [sic Wednesday], June 14, would be the Jewish festival of Shavuot and that many will want to come to pray ... it all had to be completed by then.[102]
Historian Matthew Teller, who investigated the story of the toilet, judged it as improbable.[103]
The narrow pavement, which could accommodate a maximum of 12,000 per day, was transformed into an enormous plaza that could hold in excess of 400,000.[104] Several months later, the pavement close to the wall was excavated to a depth of two and half metres, exposing an additional two courses of large stones.[105]
A complex of buildings against the wall at the southern end of the plaza, that included Madrasa Fakhriya and the house that the Abu al-Sa'ud family had occupied since the 16th century, were spared in the 1967 destruction, but demolished in 1969.[106][107] The section of the wall dedicated to prayers was thus extended southwards to double its original length, from 28 to 60 metres (92 to 197 ft), while the 4 metres (13 ft) space facing the wall grew to 40 metres (130 ft).
The narrow, approximately 120 square metres (1,300 sq ft) pre-1948 alley along the wall, used for Jewish prayer, was enlarged to 2,400 square metres (26,000 sq ft), with the entire Western Wall Plaza covering 20,000 square metres (4.9 acres), stretching from the wall to the Jewish Quarter.[108]
Plaza
The new plaza created in 1967 is used for worship and public gatherings, including
In November 2010, the government approved a NIS 85m ($23m) scheme to improve access from the Jewish Quarter and upgrade infrastructure at the Wall.[109]
Orthodox rules
Conflicts over prayer at the national monument began a little more than a year after Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, which again made the site accessible to Jews. In July 1968 the World Union for Progressive Judaism, which had planned the group's international convention in Jerusalem, appealed to the Knesset after the Ministry of Religious Affairs prohibited the organization from hosting mixed-gender services at the Wall. The Knesset committee on internal affairs backed the Ministry of Religious Affairs in disallowing the Jewish convention attendees, who had come from over 24 countries, from worshiping in their fashion. The Orthodox held that services at the Wall should follow traditional Jewish law for segregated seating followed in synagogues, while the non-Orthodox perspective was that "the Wall is a shrine of all Jews, not one particular branch of Judaism."[110]
Wilson's Arch area
Archaeology
Transformation into worship area
In September 1983, U.S. Sixth Fleet Chaplain, Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff was allowed to hold an unusual interfaith service—the first interfaith service ever conducted at the Wall during the time it was under Israeli control—that included men and women sitting together. The ten-minute service included the Priestly Blessing, recited by Resnicoff, who is a Kohen. A Ministry of Religions representative was present, responding to press queries that the service was authorized as part of a special welcome for the U.S. Sixth Fleet.[111][112][113]
In 2005, the
The restoration of the men's section included a Torah ark that can house over 100 Torah scrolls, in addition to new bookshelves, a library, heating for the winter, and air conditioning for the summer.[114] A new room was also built for the scribes who maintain and preserve the Torah scrolls used at the Wall.[114] New construction also included a women's section,[116] overlooking the men's prayer area, so that women could use this separate area to "take part in the services held inside under the Arch" for the first time.[117]
On July 25, 2010, a
A number of special worship events have been held since the renovation. They have taken advantage of the cover, temperature control,[119] and enhanced security.[120]
Robinson's Arch area
Archaeology
At the southern end of the Western Wall, Robinson's Arch along with a row of vaults once supported stairs ascending from the street to the Temple Mount.
The so-called Isaiah Stone, located under Robinson's Arch, has a carved inscription in Hebrew with a partial and slightly faulty quote from (or paraphrase of) Isaiah 66:14: "And you will see and your heart will rejoice and their bones like an herb [will flourish]" (the correct line from Isaiah would read "...your bones".) This gave room to various interpretations, some speculating about it being written during a period of hope for Jews. Alternatively, it might be connected to nearby graves. The inscription has tentatively been dated to the 4th-8th century, some extending the possible timespan all the way to the 11th century.[122] [123]
Non-Orthodox worship area
Because it does not come under the direct control of the Rabbi of the Wall or the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the site has been opened to religious groups that hold worship services that would not be approved by the Rabbi of the Western Wall or the Ministry of Religious Affairs in the major men's and women's prayer areas against the Wall.
In Judaism
History as place of prayer
Jews were banned from Jerusalem by the Roman authorities after the
10th–12th centuries
However, a synagogue was apparently founded by the Western Wall (in the broader sense) shortly after the time of Salmon. The Scroll of Ahimaaz, a historical chronicle written in 1050 CE, describes:
Samuel his son arose to replace [Paltiel], and this great man filled his father's place [in c. 980 CE] ... [He] dedicated 20,000 golden drachmas to the One Who Dwells on High, to entreat the favor of the Rider of Clouds. These were alms for the poor...; oil for the synagogue in the western wall, for [the lamps on] its bema ...[128][129][130]
This account of Jewish prayer at the edge of the Mount in confirmed by Daniel ben Azariah, who writes (c. 1055 CE) that Jews were then permitted to "pray near the Mount's gates".[131] In 1099 CE the Crusader army captured Jerusalem, killing almost every Jew inside, and banned Jewish pilgrims from approaching the Mount. In his Scroll of Revelation (c. 1125 CE), Abraham bar Hiyya records that:[132]
... the Romans who destroyed the Temple in the days of the evil Titus, though they despoiled its sanctuary, never claimed any ownership of the holy Mount or any need to pray there. But ever since the evil Constantine converted to Christianity, they have begun to make these claims ... Since [1099 CE] the Christians have desecrated the Mount, made the citadel their church, brought their idols within it, and prevented Jews from praying there. Ever since those villains took over the Mount, no Jew has been allowed to enter it, and none are to be found in all Jerusalem.
In another reversal by c. 1167 CE, during the later Crusader period, the Western Wall was reopened to Jewish prayer. Benjamin of Tudela attests:
. . . and the Gate of Jehoshaphat, which faced the Temple in ancient times. There is the Templi Domini, which is the site of the Temple, and on it is a large and very beautiful dome built by Umar bin al-Khataab. Although they come to pray, the gentiles do not bring any images or effigies onto the site. And in front of this place is the western wall, which was one of the walls in[a] the Holy of Holies; this is called the Gate of Mercy[b] and hither come all the Jews to pray before the wall in the courtyard[c].[133]
17th century
In 1625, David Finzi reported to the Jewish leadership of Carpi that:[47]
. . . from there we went up to the Temple Mount, passing mundane structures until we reached the peak of the Mount, where once the Temple stood, which was destroyed for our sins. Now a mosque is built upon it, and Jews are prohibited from entering it; only outside it, near the Western Wall, are Jews allowed to gather, and even this only in peaceful times—in difficult times, such as these, the Jewish community has decreed that no one go there. But in the first week of our visit, before this decree, we went all the way in, and kissed it, and I prostrated myself before its base, and there I said the ordered prayers, and also entreated God to bless all the Jews of Carpi ... Though it is called the Western Wall, nothing of the Temple whatever survived the destruction, the looting by thieves, and the construction of the mosque. They built a citadel on the site of the Foundation Stone, surpassingly lovely ...
Tensions eventually calmed again. Gedaliah of Siemiatycze, who lived in Jerusalem from 1700 to 1706, records that:[48]
Only Muslims are permitted to enter the Mount and not Jews or other peoples, unless they convert to the Muslim faith. They say that not just any faith is worthy of the Mount, and they continually remind us that the Muslims have superseded the Jews in the eyes of God. When we go to pray at the Wall, we press right up against it, like the lover in Song of Songs who "standeth behind our wall". On the eve of the New Moon, on Tisha ba'Av, and on other fast days, we go there to pray, and the women to raise their plangent cries, but no one challenges us, and even the qadi who lives there does not object. Though the Arab youths sometimes come to prey on us, they are easily bribed to leave us alone, and if caught by their own elders they are rebuked ... Prayer by the Wall usually meets with God's favor ... . Once in olden times, or so I heard, there was a terrible drought. The Jews declared a day of fasting, and they went with a Torah scroll to the Western Wall to pray, and God answered their prayers so readily that they had to wrap the scroll in their clothes on their return to the synagogue. Every Sabbath morning, after the services at the synagogue, we immediately set off for the Western Wall ... every single one of us, Ashkenazic and Sephardic, old and young ... there we recite those Psalms that mention Jerusalem, and Pitom haQtores, and Aleinu l'Shabeach, and the Kaddish, and we bless those in the diaspora who fundraise for Eretz Yisrael ... .
18th–19th centuries
"On Friday afternoon, March 13, 1863, the writer visited this sacred spot. Here he found between one and two hundred Jews of both sexes and of all ages, standing or sitting, and bowing as they read, chanted and recited, moving themselves backward and forward, the tears rolling down many a face; they kissed the walls and wrote sentences in Hebrew upon them... The lamentation which is most commonly used is from Psalm 79:1 "O God, the heathen are come into Thy inheritance; Thy holy temple have they defiled."
(Rev. James W. Lee, 1863)[134] |
The writings of various travellers in the Holy Land, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, tell of how the Wall and its environs continued to be a place of devotion for the Jews.
20th–21st centuries
In the past[dubious ] women could be found sitting at the entrance to the Wall every Sabbath holding fragrant herbs and spices in order to enable worshipers to make additional blessings. In the hot weather they would provide cool water. The women also used to cast lots for the privilege of sweeping and washing the alleyway at the foot of the Wall.[53]
Throughout several centuries, the Wall is where Jews have gathered to express gratitude to God or to pray for divine mercy. On news of the
Relation to the Foundation Stone
In Judaism, the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the
Part of the Temple proper
Rabbinic tradition teaches that the western wall was built upon foundations laid by the biblical
Some medieval rabbis claimed that today's Western Wall is a surviving wall of the Temple itself and cautioned Jews from approaching it, lest they enter the Temple precincts in a state of impurity.[144] Many contemporary rabbis believe that the rabbinic traditions were made in reference to the Temple Mount's Western Wall, which accordingly endows the Wall with inherent holiness.[145]
Divine custody
A 7th-century Midrash refers to a western wall of the Temple which "would never be destroyed",[10] and a 6th-century Midrash mentions how Rome was unable to topple the western wall due to the Divine oath promising its eternal survival.[146]
Divine Presence
An 11th-century Midrash quotes a 4th-century scholar: "Rav Acha said that the Divine Presence has never departed from the Western Wall",[147] and the Zohar (13th century) similarly writes that "the Divine Presence rests upon the Western Wall".[148]
Eighteenth-century scholar
Kabbalah of the word kotel
Rabbi
Ritual
Status as a synagogue
Many contemporary Orthodox
Contact with the Wall
Some Orthodox Jewish codifiers warn against inserting fingers into the cracks of the Wall as they believe that the breadth of the Wall constitutes part of the Temple Mount itself and retains holiness, while others who permit doing so claim that the Wall is located outside the Temple area.[152][non-primary source needed]
In the past, some visitors would write their names on the Wall, or based upon various scriptural verses, would drive nails into the crevices. These practices stopped after rabbis determined that such actions compromised the sanctity of the Wall.
Barefoot approach
There was once an old custom of removing one's shoes upon approaching the Wall. A 17th-century collection of special prayers to be said at holy places mentions that "upon coming to the Western Wall one should remove his shoes, bow and recite...".[53] Rabbi Moses Reicher wrote[year needed] that "it is a good and praiseworthy custom to approach the Western Wall in white garments after ablution, kneel and prostrate oneself in submission and recite "This is nothing other than the House of God and here is the gate of Heaven." When within four cubits of the Wall, one should remove their footwear."[53] Over the years the custom of standing barefoot at the Wall has ceased, as there is no need to remove one's shoes when standing by the Wall, because the plaza area is outside the sanctified precinct of the Temple Mount.[153]
Mourning over the Temple's destruction
According to Jewish Law, one is obliged to grieve and rend one's garment upon visiting the Western Wall and seeing the desolate site of the Temple.
Significance as place of prayer
The Sages of the Talmud stated that anyone who prays at the
Egalitarian and non-Orthodox prayer
While during the late 19th century, no formal segregation of men and women was to be found at the Wall,[163] conflict erupted in July 1968 when members of the World Union for Progressive Judaism were denied the right to host a mixed-gender service at the site after the Ministry of Religious Affairs insisted on maintaining the gender segregation customary at Orthodox places of worship. The progressives responded by claiming that "the Wall is a shrine of all Jews, not one particular branch of Judaism."[110]
In 1988, the small but vocal group called
A decade on, some commentators called for the closure of the Wall unless an acceptable solution to the controversy was found.[167]
In 2003
The Robinson's Arch worship site was inaugurated in August 2004 and has since hosted services by Reform and Conservative groups, as well as services by the Women of the Wall.[124]
In 2012, critics still complained about the restrictions at the Western Wall, saying Israel had "turned a national monument into an ultra-Orthodox synagogue,"[168]
In April 2013 things came to a head. In response to the repeated arrest of women, including
On August 25, 2013, a new 4,480 square foot prayer platform named "Azarat Yisrael Plaza" was completed as part of this plan of facilitating non-Orthodox worship, with access to the platform at all hours, even when the rest of the area's archaeological park is closed to visitors.[125][171] After some controversy regarding the question of authority over this prayer area, the announcement was made that it would come under the authority of a future government-appointed "pluralist council" that would include non-Orthodox representatives.[172]
In January 2016, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to designate a new space at the Kotel that would be available for egalitarian prayer and that would not be controlled by the Rabbinate. Women of the Wall welcomed the decision,[173] although Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar of Jerusalem said creating a mixed-gender prayer section was paramount to destroying the Wall. The Chief Rabbinate said it would create an alternate plan.[174] In June 2017, it was announced that the plan approved in January 2016 had been suspended.[175][176]
Prayer notes
There is a much publicised practice of placing slips of paper containing
Chabad tefillin stand
Shortly after the Western Wall came under Israeli control in 1967, a stand of the
In Islam
Tradition of the place of tethering
Muslim reverence for the site is derived from the belief that the
There are four different locations, along the southern, eastern, and western wall, with gates known successively or simultaneously as the Gate of the Prophet and al-Buraq and associated by the Moslem authorities with Muhammad's night journey, which shows how extremely insecure they felt about the attribution of the al-Buraq tradition and name to a specific site.[44]
Early Muslim vs. Mamluk-period traditions
US scholar Charles D. Matthews wrote in 1932 that, based on the work of Muslim authors of the 10th to 11th centuries (the later part of the
Ottoman-period identification
To the previously mentioned variations in identification adds yet another gate, the now walled-up Funeral Gate (bab al-jana'iz), just south of the Golden Gate, also known as 'Gate of al-Buraq' and marked as such on a 1864 Temple Mount map by Melchior de Vogüé, based on the 1833 survey by Frederick Catherwood[44][185] (see Bab al-Rahmah Cemetery at MadainProject.com for a photo and short description).
When a British Jew asked the Egyptian authorities in 1840 for permission to re-pave the ground in front of the Western Wall, the governor of Syria wrote:
- It is evident from the copy of the record of the deliberations of the Consultative Council in Jerusalem that the place the Jews asked for permission to pave adjoins the wall of the Haram al-Sharif and also the spot where al-Buraq was tethered, and is included in the endowment charter of Abu Madyan, may God bless his memory; that the Jews never carried out any repairs in that place in the past. ... Therefore the Jews must not be enabled to pave the place.[186]
Carl Sandreczki, who was charged with compiling a list of place names for Charles Wilson's Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem in 1865, reported that the street leading to the Western Wall, including the part alongside the wall, belonged to the Hosh (court/enclosure) of al Burâk, "not Obrâk, nor Obrat".[187] In 1866, the Prussian Consul and Orientalist Georg Rosen wrote that "The Arabs call Obrâk the entire length of the wall at the wailing place of the Jews, southwards down to the house of Abu Su'ud and northwards up to the substructure of the Mechkemeh [Shariah court]. Obrâk is not, as was formerly claimed, a corruption of the word Ibri (Hebrews), but simply the neo-Arabic pronunciation of Bōrâk, ... which, whilst (Muhammad) was at prayer at the holy rock, is said to have been tethered by him inside the wall location mentioned above."[15]
The name Hosh al Buraq appeared on the maps of Wilson's 1865 survey, its revised editions of 1876 and 1900, and other maps in the early 20th century.[188]
British Mandate
In 1922, Hosh al Buraq was the street name specified by the official Pro-Jerusalem Council.[189]
In Christianity
Some scholars[who?] believe that when Jerusalem came under Christian rule in the 4th century, there was a purposeful "transference" of respect for the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in terms of sanctity to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, while the sites around the Temple Mount became a refuse dump for Christians.[190] However, the actions of many modern Christian leaders, including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who visited the Wall and left prayer messages in its crevices, have symbolized for many Christians a restoration of respect and even veneration for this ancient religious site.[190]
Ideological views
Jewish
Most Jews, religious and secular, consider the wall to be important to the Jewish people since it was originally built to hold the Second Temple. They consider the capture of the wall by Israel in 1967 as a historic event since it restored Jewish access to the site after a 19-year gap.[191]
Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz referred to the attitude towards the Western Wall as "idolatry"[192] and publicly decried the Israelis' triumphalism following the 1967 victory.[193]
Israeli
A poll carried out in 2007 by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies indicated that 96% of Israeli Jews were against Israel relinquishing the Western Wall.[194]
Yitzhak Reiter writes that "the Islamization and de-Judaization of the Western Wall are a recurrent motif in publications and public statements by the heads of the Islamic Movement in Israel."[195]
Muslim
In December 1973, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated that "Only Muslims and Christians have holy places and rights in Jerusalem". The Jews, he maintained, had no rights there at all. As for the Western Wall, he said, "Another wall can be built for them. They can pray against that".[196]
Palestinian
The
In 2006, Dr. Hassan Khader, founder of the Al Quds Encyclopedia, told PA television that the first connection of the Jews to the Wall is "a recent one, which began in the 16th century...not ancient...like the roots of the Islamic connection".[198]
The
In November 2010, an official paper published by the PA Ministry of Information denied Jewish rights to the Wall. It stated that "Al-Buraq Wall is in fact the western wall of Al-Aksa Mosque" and that Jews had only started using the site for worship after the 1917 Balfour Declaration.[200]
American
While recognizing the difficulties inherent in any ultimate peace agreement that involves the status of Jerusalem, the official position of the United States includes a recognition of the importance of the Wall to the Jewish people, and has condemned statements that seek to "delegitimize" the relationship between Jews and the area in general, and the Western Wall in particular. For example, in November 2010, the Obama administration "strongly condemned a Palestinian official's claim that the Western Wall in the Old City has no religious significance for Jews and is actually Muslim property." The U.S. State Department noted that the United States rejects such a claim as "factually incorrect, insensitive and highly provocative."[201]
Administration
After the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, Rabbi
See also
- List of artifacts in biblical archaeology
- Mughrabi Bridge
- Pro–Wailing Wall Committee
- Southern Wall
- Walls of Jerusalem
- Western Stone
- Western Wall camera
- Western Wall Tunnel
Footnotes
- ^ The exact meaning of this phrase (אחד מן הכתלים שהיו [נ"א +במקדש] בקדש הקדשים which was one of the walls [1 MS: +in the Temple] in the holy of holies) is obscure, confused by the preposition ב in. Most translators emend to "of the Holy of Holies," but Yisrael Ariel argues that the meaning of Qodesh haqQodashim (lit. 'Holy of Holies') had expanded to include a larger portion of the site, just as had those of haBayyit hagGadol (lit. 'the Great House') and haAzarah (lit. 'the court', but see following note).
- term of artmeaning "place where prayer is received favorably" (cf. Talmudic idiom "he knocked on the gates of mercy" viz. "he prayed"); others, however, assume the reverse: that the Gate of Mercy was once known as the "western wall".
- ^ The term azara in its technical sense refers only to the inner court of the Temple, including the central building and the altars. However, Benjamin's contemporaries used it loosely to refer to a different part of, or even the whole of, the Temple site. See Yisrael Ariel, "Prayer on the Temple Mount" (1995) [in Hebrew] in Memorial Volume for Rabbi Shlomo Goren, ed. Yitzhak Alfasi, p. 268. Similarly, Al-Biruni (c. 1000 CE) refers to a ritual on Simchat Torah in which the Jews would "assemble in the harhara of Jerusalem" for a procession (The Chronology of Ancient Nations, ed. Eduard Sachau (1879), p. 270), and one Cairo Geniza letter refers to "Rabbi Musa who was killed in the azara by the Ananites" (JQR V p. 554).
- ^ Hebrew: , translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi; Ashkenazic pronunciation: HaKosel HaMa'arovi
- ^ "The Temple Mount in the Herodian Period (37 BC–70 AD)". Biblical Archaeology Society. July 21, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0815629139. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Löfgren, Eliel; Barde, Charles; Van Kempen, J. (December 1930). Report of the Commission appointed by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem (UNISPAL doc A/7057-S/8427, February 23, 1968)
- ^ a b c d e Halkin 2001
- ^ UN Conciliation Commission (1949). United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine Working Paper on the Holy Places. p. 26.
The Palestine Administration interpreted the Status Quo in respect of the Wailing Wall as being that the Jewish Community had a right of access to the pavement in front of the Wall for their devotions, but that the Wall itself, the pavement in front of it and the adjacent Moroccan Quarter, were legally Moslem property. The Jews might bring to the Wall only those appurtenances of worship that were allowed under the Ottoman regime. This position was in general reaffirmed by the International Commission appointed by the British Government in 1930, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to enquire into conflicting rights and claims concerning the Wailing Wall. The International Commission further ruled that although the Jews enjoyed no sort of proprietary rights to the Wall or the adjacent pavement, they should have free access to them at all times, subject to certain stipulations. The placing of benches and screens against the Wall was prohibited; the Moslems were similarly forbidden to carry out the Zikr ceremony during the progress of Jewish devotions or to cause annoyance to the Jews in any other way; no political speeches or demonstrations near the Wall were to be allowed; the Moslems' right to repair the pavement was affirmed, and if any repairs were not carried out by them in due time, the work was to be undertaken by the Government. The maintenance of the Wall itself was entrusted to the Government, but it was understood that repairs to it should be carried out only after consultation with the Supreme Moslem Council and the Chief Rabbinate.
- Cust, L. G. A. (1929). The Status Quo in the Holy Places. H.M.S.O. for the High Commissioner of the Government of Palestine. pp. 44–45.
The immediate neighbourhood of the Wailing Wall is inhabited by a number of Moroccan families, who are the beneficiaries of the ancient Waqf dating from the thirteenth century of Abu Midian. Some of the dwellings are entered from the space in front of the Wall. The wall separating the garden to the north from the Wailing Wall was rebuilt without incident in 1929. The wall overlooking the Wailing Wall by the Bab-al-Mughrabi was also rebuilt at the same time. The Moslems wanted to erect a low wall, but it was ruled, to preserve the Status Quo, that the wall must be rebuilt to its former height. The Wailing Wall, as being one of the few relics of the Temple of Herod of undisputed authenticity, is held in very great veneration by the Jews. Jewish writers refer to it as "the Holiest possession of the fifteen millions of Jews throughout the world which they have not forgotten for one moment since the Dispersion." On Sabbaths and other Holy Days the Wall is thronged with worshippers, the American and European Jew mixing with the Orthodox Jew in his caftan and the Bokharan in his gorgeous silks. The Jewish custom of praying here is of considerable antiquity, being mentioned by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela and has now become an established right. This right to pray has, however, become linked with the claim to the actual ownership of the Wall. The Moslems resist this on the ground that the Wall is an integral part of the enclosure wall of the Haram al Sharif, and that the space in front of it is a public way, and part of the premises of the Abu Midian Waqf. For this reason the Moslems have always protested against the placing of benches or chairs in front of the Wall by the Jews as causing an obstruction in this public way and implying possessory rights. Though benches have certainly from time to time been introduced, there is extant a resolution taken by the Administrative Council and confirmed by the Mutasarrif in 1912 that chairs or tents or curtains (to divide the women from the men) are not to be allowed. This is still enforced, but portable camp-stools or boxes or tins with cushions are permitted for the convenience of worshippers. This ruling was notified to the Jewish religious authorities and the Police by the District Governor in 1922, and confirmed in 1926 after a rather serious dispute had arisen on account of the introduction of some benches on the previous Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
- ISBN 978-1-351-99884-0.
- ^ Peters 1984 "One of the best documented endowments, one that embraced the entire quarter of Western Muslims or Maghrebis".
- ^ Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah, ch. 2–8
- J.R. Macduff, Memories of Olivet (1868), and many later works.
- ^ Barclay 1858, p. 493
- ^ Warner 1878, p. 45
- ^ Wilson 1881, p. 41
- ^ a b G. Rosen (1866). Das Haram von Jerusalem und der Tempelplatz des Moria. Gotha. pp. 9–10.
Die ganze Mauerstrecke am Klageplatz der Juden bis südlich an die Wohnung des Abu Su'ud und nördlich an die Substructionen der Mechkemeh wird von den Arabern Obrâk genannt, nicht, wie früher behauptet worden, eine Corruption des Wortes Ibri (Hebräer), sondern einfach die neu-arabische Aussprache von Bōrâk, [dem Namen des geflügelten Wunderrosses,] welches [den Muhammed vor seiner Auffahrt durch die sieben Himmel nach Jerusalem trug] und von ihm während seines Gebetes am heiligen Felsen im Innern der angegebenen Mauerstelle angebunden worden sein soll.
- ^ "The Story of the Kotel: Facts and Figures". The Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2005.
- ^ Friedman, Thomas L. (December 1, 1985). "Quarrying History in Jerusalem". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
Herod the Great certainly used it as the main quarry for building blocks needed to renovate the Temple and its retaining walls, including what is known today as the Wailing Wall.
- ^ Lefkovits, Etgar (September 12, 2007). "Archeologists find 2nd Temple quarry". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
An ancient quarry where King Herod's workers chiseled huge high-quality limestones for the construction of the Second Temple, including the Western Wall, has been uncovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Sunday (...) Dozens of quarries have previously been uncovered in Jerusalem—including ones larger than the present find—but this is the first one that archeologists have found which they believe was used in the construction of the Temple Mount itself.
- ^ ISBN 965-05-0055-3.
- Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ Jol, H. M.; et al. (2006). "Publications, #79". Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ a b Harry M. Jol, Paul D. Bauman and Dan Bahat: Looking into the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR 2006), June 19–22, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Papers on CD-ROM. Also in: Dan Bahat, The Jerusalem Western Wall Tunnel, Israel Exploration Society, 2013, pp. 395–440.
- ^ ISBN 978-0028659282.
- ^ Date is adjusted in some Jewish texts to read 422 BCE. See Chronology of the Bible.
- ^ "Coin discovery sheds new light on sacred Jerusalem site (AP)". NBC News. November 24, 2011.
- ^ "Building the Western Wall: Herod Began it but Didn't Finish it". Israel Antiquities Authority. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
- ^ Date is adjusted in some Jewish texts to read 68 CE. See Chronology of the Bible.
- ^ ISBN 1-58684-090-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0.
- ISBN 978-1-59698-029-7.
- ^ "Researchers find ancient rooms under Jerusalem's Western Wall". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ David M. Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson "Pilgrimage and the Jews" (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006) 42–.
- ISBN 978-0870680854. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
An improvement evidently took place after the Fatimid conquest in 970 when permission was granted to pray not at a gate but at the Western Wall (כותל מערבי). This permission may have been due to the intervention of Paltiel, the first Egyptian Nagid. Paltiel's son, Samuel, on the occasion of the transference' of his parents' remains to Jerusalem, donated among other gifts money for "oil for the sanctuary at the Western Wall, for the altar that is inside" (ושמן למקדש בכותל מערבי למזבח שבפנים).
- ISBN 978-90-04-17385-9. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8191-1122-7. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
The scroll of Ahim'as (11th century) speaks of a synagogue near the Western Wall.
- ISBN 978-0-674-03468-6. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
Perhaps the earliest evidence for the Western Wall being used for prayer is found in the Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Jerusalem at some point between 1169 and 1171 on his long trip around the east from Spain, when the city was ruled by the Crusaders. […] This is a confused account: the Gate of Mercy is in the Eastern Wall. But it may imply that the Western Wall was also used for prayer.
- ^ David Philipson (1968). Hebrew Union College Annual. Vol. 6 (1930 ed.). Hebrew Union College. p. 7. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
How this confusion between the Golden Gate and the Western Wall could have arisen it is difficult to imagine, unless it be due to the fact that both spots may have been favourite places of prayer for the Jews of the Middle Ages, just as the Western or Wailing Wall continues to be still today. The fact that this confusion seems to have existed only with Jewish travellers would tend to corroborate this hypothesis.
- Obadiah of Bertinoro, etc.). The name Western Wall, used by Obadiah, refers—as can be inferred from the context—to the southwestern corner of the wall, and there is no hint that there was a place of Jewish worship there. It is only from the 16th century that Jews began praying at the present location and this is clear from the available sources. Thenceforth all literary sources describe it as a place of assembly and prayer for Jews. Transmitted by Moses Hagiz, it was the sultan Selim I, the conqueror of Jerusalem, who recovered the Wall from underneath the dungheap which was hiding it and granted permission to the Jews to hold prayers there.
- ISBN 0-905648-04-8.
- ISBN 1-56062-130-3. Adler preferred the generic translation "western wall" rather than "Western Wall". Elkan Nathan Adler (1987). Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages. Dover. p. 240.
- ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-84511-387-2.
- ^ Khalidi, Rashid (1997). Palestinian Identity. Columbia University Press. p. 216.
- ^ doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1932.tb03757.x. Retrieved December 13, 2022 – via reprint in "Al-Haram ash-Sharif in Jerusalem: texts and studies", III, Collected and reprinted by Fuat Sezgin et al., Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, Frankfurt/Main(2007), pp. 225–235.
- ^ Vilnay 2003, pp. 61–62
- ^ Hagiz, Moses. "פרשת אלה מסעי". pp. 18ff.
- ^ a b Benayahu, Meir (1987). "ספור דברים מורגלים בירושלים". Asuppot. 1: 215–242 – via Otzar.
- ^ a b of Siemiatycze, Gedaliah (1963). קונטרס שאלו שלום ירושלים. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar. pp. 18–22.
- ^ Schwarz, Joseph (1850). "Moriah, The Temple Mount". Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine. Philadelphia: A. Hart.
- ISBN 0-87306-879-3.
- ^ a b Baruch, Yuval. The Mughrabi Gate Access – the Real Story. Israel Antiquities Authority
- ISBN 0-87306-879-3.
- ^ ISBN 965-05-0055-3.
- ISBN 978-0-02-865945-9.
His brother, Mordecai Rosanes, financed the paving of the Western Wall area in Jerusalem in 1874.
- ^ ISBN 0-87306-879-3.
- ISBN 965-287-000-5.
- ^ Lang, Yossef. "The Hirschensohn Family of Publishers in Jerusalem, 1882–1908". Kesher Issue 29.
- ISBN 0-7011-3070-9.
- ^ The Advocate: America's Jewish journal. 1915. p. 638. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
According to a report in the Jaffa Hebrew weekly, Hapoel Hazair, the Commander of the Turkish Army, Djemal Pasha, has ordered a barricade to be placed across the approach to the Wailing Wall to prevent this place from being visited by Jews. The order is said to be based on sanitary grounds.
- ^ Armstrong 2001 "In the 16th century, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent permitted the Jews to make the Western Wall their official holy place and had his court architect Sinan build an oratory for them there."
- ^ Gonen 2003, pp. 135–137 "It is possible that official recognition of the right of Jews to pray by the Wall was granted already in the second half of the sixteenth century by a firman (official decree) issued by Suleiman the Magnificent. This firman may have been related to the efforts of the Ottoman ruler to lure Jews to Palestine as a counterbalance to the Arab population, which had rebelled against the new rulers, who were Turkish rather than Arabs."
- ^ "Report of the Commission appointed by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem". United Nations. December 1930. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ISBN 0-7864-1264-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-7011-3070-9.
- ^ ISBN 1-86197-333-0.
- ISBN 0-7195-5707-0.
- ^ Gonen 2003
- ^ a b c d Bernhard Wasserstein (1978). The British in Palestine. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 224–227.
- ^ Tom Segev (2001). One Palestine, Complete. Abacus. p. 301.
- ISBN 0-7195-5707-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-89906-458-2.
- ^ ISBN 90-411-1009-7.
- ISBN 0-85664-635-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-582-82320-X.
- ISBN 0-471-46502-X.
- ISBN 0-582-82320-X.
The Mufti tried to establish Muslim rights and the Jews were deliberately antagonised by building works and noise.
- ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0.
From 1929 onward, the Supreme Muslim Council intensified construction work on the Haram al-Sharif in order to demonstrate their exclusive claims to the Temple Mount (...) Not without reason, Jewish believers felt disturbed in their prayer.
- ^ ISBN 965-05-0055-3.
- ^ "'File 15/18 Foreign and Political Department Circulars Received From the Govt of India' IOR/R/15/2/1461". Qatar Digital Library. August 29, 2014.
- ISBN 0-85664-635-0.
- ISBN 0-905648-04-8.
- ^ a b Palestine (Western or Wailing Wall) Order in Council, 1931, Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, Gazette Extraordinary (Suppl. No. 8/1931), June 8, 1931, pp. 464–468; also printed in The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 411ff.
- ^ Yale Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arm03.asp Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement.
- S2CID 155549524.
- ^ Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996) p. 254.
- ^ ISBN 0-7146-5266-0.
- ISBN 978-0-521-87013-9.
- ISBN 0-7146-5266-0.
- ISBN 9780810904002. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
An Israeli soldier writes the Hebrew name on a street sign, which had previously had only Arabic and English lettering identifying the location as Wailing Wall Road.
- ^ Jāmiʻat al-Kuwayt; Institute for Palestine Studies (Washington, D.C.); Muʾassasat al-Dirāsāt al-Filasṭīnīyah (1972). Journal of Palestine studies. University of California Press for Kuwait University and the Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 187. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ISBN 9789652172686. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
The symbolic removal of a sign placed by the Jordanians in English and Arabic, which referred to the Western Wall plaza as al-Buraq, was part of the process of 'Judaization' and return of the site to the status of the most important holy place of the Jewish people, and now the most holy place inside Israel.
- ISBN 978-0-679-43617-1. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Maurice David Japheth; P. K. Rajiv (1967). The Arab Israel conflict: an Indian viewpoint. Pearl Publications. p. 19.
The Chief Chaplain of the Army, Brigadier (Rabbi) Goren, offered prayers for four hours at the Wall. He proclaimed that Israel would never again relinquish the Wall. A little later, the Minister for Defence, Moshe Dayan, accompanied by the Chief of Staff, General Yitzhak Rabin, arrived. They repeated the pledge of the Rabbi. "Today we have reunited Jerusalem. We have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have returned, never to be parted from it again," Dayan said.
- ^ Rabin, Yitzchak (May 29, 1995). "Address to the Knesset by Prime Minister Rabin on Jerusalem, May 29, 1995". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- ^ Gorenberg 2007, p. 45.
- ^ Joost R. Hiltermann, 'Teddy Kollek and the Native Question,' in Annelies Moors, Toine van Teeffelen, Sharif Kanaana, Ilham Abu Ghazaleh (eds.) Discourse and Palestine: Power, Text and Context, Het Spinhuis, 1995 pp. 55–65 [55–56]
- ^ Nir Hasson,'Rare photograph reveals ancient Jerusalem mosque destroyed in 1967,' at Haaretz, June 15, 2012.
- ^ Tom Segev (2007). 1967. Metropolitan Books. pp. 400–401.
- ^ Ari Shavit,'Jerusalem-born thinker Meron Benvenisti has a message for Israelis: Stop whining,' at Haaretz, October 11, 2012.
- ^ Gershom Gorenberg, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. Oxford University Press, 2002 p. 102.
- ^ Henry Cattan, The Palestine Question, Taylor & Francis, 1988 p. 256.
- ISBN 978-1-84467-125-0.
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- ISBN 978-1-6354-2335-8.
- ^ Meron Benvenisti (1976). Jerusalem: the Torn City. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 312–313.
- ^ Reinventing Jerusalem:Israel's Reconstruction of the Jewish Quarter after 1967, Simone Ricca, pp. 67–113
- ^ Robert Schick. "Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem". In Gideon Avni and Katharina Galor (ed.). Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City. pp. 475–490.
- ^ Ricca, Simone (Summer 2005). "Heritage, Nationalism and the Shifting Symbolism of the Wailing Wall; June 1967: Erasing The Past". Institute of Jerusalem (Palestine) Studies.
- ^ Israel approves $23 million plan to renovate near Western Wall, Haartez, (November 21, 2010).
- ^ a b From the Archive: First rumblings in the battle for pluralism at the Western Wall JTA, April 24, 2015.
- ^ Jerusalem Post, Sep 5, 1983, and Jerusalem Post International Edition, Sep 11–17, 1983, "U.S. Navy Chaplain Conducts Western Wall Interfaith Litany"
- ^ St Petersburg Times, retrieved March 25, 2011
- ^ "The day Israel gave its blessing to egalitarian prayer at Western Wall". Times of Israel.
- ^ a b c English.thekotel.org TheKotel.org Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved March 11, 2011.
- ^ iaa-conservation.org, retrieved March 11, 2011.
- ^ The Kotel, note about May 25, 2006., retrieved March 11, 2011. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ English.TheKotel.org, retrieved March 24, 2011. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Thekotel.org, note for July 25, 2010, retrieved March 12, 2011. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Kotel.org, note on February 3, 2006., retrieved March 13, 2011. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ TheKotel.org, Lag B'omer 2009, retrieved March 13, 2011. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Jewish Virtual Library, retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ISBN 978-9652293923. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
- ISBN 978-3110251906. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Kershner, Isabel (April 11, 2013). "Court Rules for Women in Western Wall Dispute". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Jaffay, Nathan, "Is Western Wall Prayer Platform a Step Forward For Women – or Back?", The Jewish Daily Forward, August 30, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
- Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew script.
- ISBN 978-0-87068-085-4.
- ISSN 0792-528X.
- ISSN 0792-528X.
- ^ "מגילת אחימעץ" [The Scroll of Ahimaaz]. HebrewBooks.org (in Hebrew). p. 47. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ Mann, Jacob (1920). The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine Under the Fāṭimid Caliphs: A Contribution to Their Political and Communal History Based Chiefly on Genizah Material Hitherto Unpublished. Oxford University Press. p. 46.
- ^ Abraham bar Hiyya. "מגלת המגלה" [Scroll of the Revealer (Megilat ha-Megaleh)]. hebrewbooks.org (in Hebrew). pp. 99–100.
- ^ Adler N. M. (1907), The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, London; p. 23 (English) and p. 24 (Hebrew).
- ^ Lee 1863, p. 147
- ISBN 0-520-23191-0.
- ISBN 0-7011-3070-9.
- ISBN 0-7011-3070-9.
- ^ Marciano, Ilan (August 10, 2005). "70,000 protest pullout at Western Wall". Ynet. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
- ^ Ratzlav-Katz, Nissan (July 23, 2007). "100,000 Jews At Western Wall for Tisha B'Av 5767". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
- ^ Judith Weil. "Kosel Visitors record", Jewish Tribune, October 22, 2010.
- Obadiah ben Abraham, Ramat Gan 1971: "I sought the place of the Foundation Stone where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, and many people told me it is under a tall and beautiful domewhich the Arabs built in the Temple precinct."
- Sternbuch, MoisheTeshuvos Ve-hanhagos Vol. 3, Ch. 39: "In truth they have erred, thinking that the stone upon they built their dome was in fact the Foundation Stone, however, most possibly, the Stone is located further to the south in the open space opposite the exposed section of the Western Wall."
- ^ a b c d e Frishman, Avraham; Kum Hisalech Be’aretz, Jerusalem 2004
- ^ See Radvaz 692
- ^ Horovitz, Ahron (2001). Jerusalem: Footsteps Through Time. Jerusalem: Feldheim.
However, today there is no doubt that the wall is the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount and the Midrash refers to the Temple in its broader sense, that is, the Temple Mount.
- ^ Lamentations Rabbah 1:32
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 2:2
- ^ Zohar Mishpatim 116
- ^ Ya'arot Devash Vol. 1, Ch. 4
- Shem Ha-gedolimfor a similar account with Rabbi Avraham Ha-levi of Safed.
- ^ Kav ha-Yashar Ch. 50
- Yoreh Deah450
- ^ a b Yosef, Ovadia (1990). Yalkut Yosef. Vol. 2, Laws of Kotel HaMa'aravi. Jerusalem. 278–282.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Shragai, Nadav (October 5, 2006). "Western Wall rabbi forbids proposed burning of prayer notes". Haaretz. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
- Yoreh Deah340
- Orach Chaim561. He contends that the city itself is in such a state of disrepair that once a person has reached the hills surrounding Jerusalem, he can immediately view the Western Wall.
- Minchas Shlomo Vol. 1, Ch. 73. See also: Tearing keriah for Jerusalem Archived May 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine; Ask the Rabbi: Kosel Keriah Archived May 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 1-58330-439-8.
- Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer35
- RadvazVol. 2; Ch. 648) rules that if a Jew was forced onto the Temple Mount and the time of prayer arrived while he's standing between the Western Wall and the place of the Holy of Holies, "he should pray facing towards the Holy of Holies even though his back will be facing the Western Wall."
- ISBN 978-965-7371-29-9.
- ^ "Origin of the 40 Days". westernwallprayers.org. 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ^ The Women's Wall Tablet Magazine, April 30, 2013
- ^ "Mission Statement". Women of the Wall – נשות הכותל. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016.
- ^ "History". Women of the Wall – נשות הכותל. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016.
- ^ The Jewish Daily Forward. New York, New York. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
- ^ Bleiweiss, Robert. "Tear Down the Western Wall". Jewish Spectator, 1997. p. 3: "There is no quick or easily acceptable way to change this sorry situation, so the blighted thing probably ought to be torn down before its continued presence leads to the irreparable splitting of the Jews and perhaps even civil war and the end of the state of Israel."
- ^ Rudoren, Jodi (December 26, 2012). "Israel to Review Curbs on Women's Prayer at Western Wall". The New York Times.
- ^ Guttman, Nathan and Jane Eisner. "Kotel Egalitarian Prayer Plan Set in Motion by Dramatic Western Wall Compromise." The Jewish Daily Forward. April 10-12, 2013.
- ^ "Pending deal with Women of the Wall would annul regulations banning non-Orthodox practice at Kotel". The Jerusalem Post. March 26, 2014.
- ^ Pollack, Suzanne, Separate – but not equal, Washington Jewish Week, August 28, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
- ^ "Pluralist Council Will Oversee Robinson's Arch at Western Wall", Jewish Daily Forward (from Jewish Telegraphic Agency press release), published March 6, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
- ^ "Israel Approves Prayer Space at Western Wall for Non-Orthodox Jews". The New York Times. February 1, 2016.
- ^ Jerusalem chief rabbi: Mixed-gender plaza akin to razing Western Wall Times of Israel, March 6, 2016
- ^ Sales, Ben (June 26, 2017). "Suspension of Western Wall deal leaves Jewish leaders feeling betrayed – J". Jweekly.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- ^ "Israel freezes Western Wall compromise that was to create egalitarian prayer section | Jewish Telegraphic Agency". Jta.org. June 25, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- ^ "מסעות ירושלים - גולדשטין, משה בן יהודה (page 76 of 284)". hebrewbooks.org. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ "Obama's Private Prayer 'Leaked'". Time. July 25, 2008. Archived from the original on July 26, 2008. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
- ISBN 978-1-893652-37-8.
- ^ "Letter Placed by Pope John Paul II at the Western Wall". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel). Retrieved October 7, 2008.
- ^ McGirk, Tim (July 25, 2008). "Obama's Private Prayer Leaked". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on July 26, 2008.
- ^ Schapiro, Leo (November 25, 1967). "Lubavitchers Push Tefillin Campaign". Boston Globe.
Since the Six Day War in June which resulted in the creation of a united Jerusalem as part of Israel, more than 400,000 members of the Jewish faith are estimated to have observed the commandment to wear Phylacteries – tefillin In Hebrew – at the city's Western, formerly known as the "Wailing" Wall.
- ^ Margolin, Dovid (May 15, 2017). "50 Years After Six-Day War, How the Kotel Became Synonymous With Tefillin". Chabad.org.
- ^ Amikam Elad (1999). Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship. Leiden: Brill. pp. 101–102.
- ISBN 978-9004173279. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 27, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
- ^ F. E. Peters (1985). Jerusalem. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 541–542. Arabic text in A. L. Tibawi (1978). The Islamic Pious Foundations in Jerusalem. London: The Islamic Cultural Centre. Appendix III.
- ^ Carl Sandrecki (1865). Account of a Survey of the City of Jerusalem made in order to ascertain the names of streets etc. Day IV. reproduced in Captain Charles W. Wilson R.E. (1865). Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem (Facsimile ed.). Ariel Publishing House (published 1980). Appendix.
- ^ Captain Charles W. Wilson R.E. (1865). Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem (Facsimile ed.). Ariel Publishing House (published 1980). maps.; Wilson 1876; Wilson 1900; August Kümmel 1904 ; Karl Baedeker 1912; George Adam Smith 1915
- ^ Council of the Pro-Jerusalem Society (1924). C. R. Ashby (ed.). Jerusalem 1920–1922. London: John Murray. p. 27.
- ^ a b USCatholic.org, retrieved March 27, 2011.
- ^ Wein, Berel. Triumph of Survival; Section VIII – The Modern Jew 1958–1988, p. 451.
- ^ Goshen-Gottstein, Alon (June 26, 2017). "Is the Western Wall a Kind of Idolatry?". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Leibovitz, Liel (April 11, 2013). "Stop Yeshayahu Leibowitz! By failing to name a street after the controversial philosopher, the city of Jerusalem proved he was right". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ Shargai, Nadav (May 14, 2007). "Poll: 96% of Israeli Jews won't give up Western Wall for peace". Haaretz. Archived from the original on May 15, 2007. Retrieved March 4, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-230-60782-8. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
- ISBN 1-86197-333-0.
- Palestinian National Authority. Archived from the originalon July 15, 2004. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
- ^ Klein, Aaron (October 25, 2006). "Quick Takes: News From Israel You May Have Missed". The Jewish Press. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
- ^ "'Western Wall was never part of temple'". The Jerusalem Post. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
- ^ Khaled Abu Toameh. Jews have no right to Western Wall, PA 'study' says, Jerusalem Post, November 22, 2010.
- ^ U.S. condemns Palestinian claim on Western Wall of Temple Mount, Cleveland.com, retrieved March 27, 2011.
- ^ "Obituaries: Yehuda Meir Getz, Western Wall's Rabbi, 71". The New York Times. September 25, 1995. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
- ^ "Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz". ALEH. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
References
- Armstrong, Karen (April 16, 2001). "Islam's Stake". Time. Archived from the original on April 13, 2001. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
- Barclay, James Turner (1858). "Modern Jerusalem". City of the Great King. Challen.
- Ben-Dov, Meir; Naor, Mordechai; Aner, Ze'ev (1983). The Western Wall. ISBN 965-05-0055-3.
- Bleiweiss, Robert (1997). "Tear Down the Western Wall". Jewish Spectator.
- Chertoff, Mordecai S. (1975). Zionism: a basic reader. Herzl Press.
- Gonen, Rivka (2003). Contested Holiness. KTAV Publishing. ISBN 0-88125-799-0.
- ISBN 978-1-466-80054-0.
- Halkin, Hillel (January 12, 2001). "The Western Wall: 'Western Wall' or 'Wailing Wall'?". Forward. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- Idinopulos, Thomas A. (1994). Jerusalem: A History of the Holiest City as Seen Through the Struggles of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 978-1-56663-062-7.
- Lee, James W. (1863). Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
- Mock, Steven (2011). "Theories of Nations and Nationalism". Symbols of Defeat in the Construction of National Identity. Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-139-50352-5.
- Peters, F. E. (1984). Jerusalem. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 357–359, 394–396.
- Shragai, Nadav (2014). "The 'Al-Aksa Is in Danger' Libel: The History of a Lie". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- Vilnay, Zev (2003). "How the Wall was discovered". Legends of Palestine. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4128-4.
- Warner, Charles Dudley (1878). "Jerusalem". In the Levant. Houghton.
- Wilson, Charles (1881). Picturesque Palestine. Vol. 1. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
- The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 2007. ISBN 978-0-7166-0107-4.
External links
- The political role of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the Temple Mount question, Yoel Cohen, from the Jewish Political Studies Review, Volume 11:1–2 (Spring 1999), accessed March 2020.
- Official website of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation
- Jewish Virtual Library: The Western Wall
- Chabad.org: The Shofar and the Wall, 1930
- Liberation of the Temple Mount and Western Wall: Historic Live Broadcast on Voice of Israel Radio, June 7th, 1967
- The Western Wall Online – online services related to the Kotel: Prayer note, Live cam, and Information
Photographs
Google Street View