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The Western Wall is the the most holy place accessible to the Jewish people because of
Muslim control of the
Temple Mount. Known in recent centuries as the "Wailing Wall," this was built by
Herod the Great as the retaining wall of the Temple Mount complex. The plaza was created as an area for prayer when Israel
occupied the Old City in 1967. At times tens of thousands of people gather here for prayer.
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The most holy place in the world accessible to Jewish people, prayers are offered up at this wall built by
King Herod in the first century B.C. Three times a day the Jewish people pray (morning, afternoon, evening) and they do so with phylacteries tied around their forehead and wrist and with the white and blue prayer shawls. The men's prayer area continues from the outdoor section through a passageway to the north. Within this area is a massive arch originally constructed by
Herod and now known after a
British explorer in the 1860s. Though only 25 feet high now, the arch originally was 75 feet high when the Central Valley was much deeper.
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An especially large course of stones is visible on the southern and
western walls today. On the west the "Master Course" consists of four stones, the largest of which weighs 570 tons and is 44 feet long, 10 feet high and 12-16 feet deep. The next largest stone in the wall is a mere 40 feet long. The largest stone in the Great Pyramid weighs 11 tons.
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The Largest stone inside Western Wall Tunnel
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In the Old testament, God assures us that the Jewish People will never be destroyed. In establishing the eternal covenant, God tells
Abraham: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations, an eternal covenant, to be your God and the God of the descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7). |
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