Western Wall

(31.776667, 35.234167)

Our final day in Jerusalem began with a trip to the Western Wall. The 2,000 year old wall is actually just a remnant of a retaining wall built by Herod the Great to create the plaza upon which the 2nd Jewish temple sat before the Romans destroyed it in 70 CE. This wall is therefore the proxy holy place for the Jews until the temple can be restored - which is a problem since the Islamic Dome of the Rock sits on that location.

The Wailing Wall had a reputation for being a place of unspeakable sadness. Perhaps because most of us lacked the same sense of loss or desire for restoration that it symbolized, it didn't quite have that effect on most of us. But it have a quality of holiness and reverence, and an absence of institutional commerce that was a refreshing change from so many of the other holy sites we had visited.

05/30/2011 06:40 IDT Breakfast	05/30/2011 06:42 IDT Shakshuka
05/30/2011 07:08 IDT Hotel room	05/30/2011 07:14 IDT Lobby
05/30/2011 07:20 IDT Load-out	05/30/2011 07:28 IDT Load-out
05/30/2011 07:58 IDT Off the bus	05/30/2011 07:59 IDT Meeting
05/30/2011 08:01 IDT Dung Gate	05/30/2011 08:02 IDT Inside of Dung Gate
05/30/2011 08:01 IDT Walking to the Western Wall	05/30/2011 08:02 IDT Jerusalem Archeological Park
05/30/2011 08:03 IDT Jerusalem Archeological Park	05/30/2011 08:04 IDT Jerusalem Archeological Park
05/30/2011 08:04 IDT Walking to the Western Wal	05/30/2011 08:04 IDT Dung Gate
05/30/2011 08:05 IDT Western Wall security gate	05/30/2011 08:05 IDT Western Wall security gate
05/30/2011 08:05 IDT Sign	05/30/2011 08:05 IDT 1988 reconstruction marker
05/30/2011 08:07 IDT Welcome to Western Wall Plaza	05/30/2011 08:07 IDT Plaza
05/30/2011 08:07 IDT Bridge to Dome of the Rock	05/30/2011 08:08 IDT Western Wall Plaza
05/30/2011 08:10 IDT Men's aisle to the Western Wall	05/30/2011 08:11 IDT Cover your head
05/30/2011 08:11 IDT Western Wall	05/30/2011 08:12 IDT Western Wall
05/30/2011 08:13 IDT Western Wall	05/30/2011 08:13 IDT Western Wall
05/30/2011 08:22 IDT Women's side	05/30/2011 08:27 IDT Cat
05/30/2011 08:34 IDT Mesuzza on the Dung Gate	05/30/2011 08:36 IDT Back to the bus

Next: National Diamond Center...