Holy Sites Continued

I have also had the great privilege to have gone to and prayed at the Western Wall, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City just below the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. This is the most sacred spot in Judaism, the last remaining piece of the Temple still standing. The Temple Mount itself is Muslim controlled, and where the Temple once stood, a mosque now dominates the skyline. The wall itself is incredibly old, with every stone of it being sacred to the Jews. To get to the wall itself, one must go through airport security. Everything in your pockets must be examined and you must go through a metal detector. Heavily armed soldiers are constantly on patrol, alert for trouble. These measures are necessary because the wall has been targeted by suicide bombers in the past, and every now and then Muslim worshipers on the Mount itself might throw rocks down on the Orthodox Jews praying at the wall below them. This has happened in the past, and everyone at the Wall is alert for any indication that it might happen again. The Wall itself is holy ground; you can feel the power of the place as you place your hands on the old stone and whisper a prayer to Jehovah. In these old stones, the Temple's memory lives on. Countless prayers, written on slips of paper, are jammed into any nook and cranny available. Everywhere you look, Orthodox Jews pray to the God of their people, some wailing in distress over the Temple's destruction (hence the name Wailing Wall)some sitting studying the Torah, some engaged in intense debate with others, and some simply standing with hands clasping the wall, eyes closed in reverence. The heat is intense, with the sun reflecting off of the massive limestone courtyard that leads up to the wall itself. Seen from a distance, the area is an impressive sight, with this beautiful courtyard giving the wall a massive amount of space and respect and allowing for the great numbers of worshipers that come to pray on the Sabbath. It was not always this way. When East Jerusalem was in the hands of the Jordanians from 1948-197, a row of houses were built up right next to the wall itself, leaving very little room for worshipers to pray. Jordanian soldiers made it very difficult for Jews in West Jerusalem to gain access to the Wall, and sometimes would even urinate on it. In 1967 during the 6 Day War, Israel overran the West Bank and East Jerusalem in response to the Jordanian attack on West Jerusalem, taking the Old City, the Wall, and the Temple Mount in the process. For the first time in close to 2,000 years, the entire city of Jerusalem, the City of David, was under Jewish control. Soldiers rushed through the Old City to the Wall to pray unimpeded, and the Shofar once again could be heard throughout the Old City. Moshe Dayan, the head of Israel's military at the time, wisely left the Mount itself in the hands of the Muslims, while Israel bulldozed the houses in front of the Wailing Wall in order to give it the space needed. Jerusalem still remains united under one rule, and the Wall still stands. The most sacred site of Judaism is a marvel to behold, and when one places their hands on it to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you know you are standing on holy ground.