The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall and the Kotel HaMa'aravi or Kotel in Hebrew, is the section of the western supporting wall of the Temple Mount, and is considered the sole remnant of the Second Temple following its destruction in 70 C.E.
Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Western Wall, built around 19 BCE by Herod the Great, has become the most sacred spot in the Jewish religion. It was returned to Jewish control during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israeli troops captured the Old City from Jordan. A large plaza in front of the wall where Jews and visitors could congregate and pray was immediately paved.
Over the decades the wall has been visited by millions of tourists and pilgrims and is often on the itinerary of foreign heads of state who visit Israel. One of the customary traditions for visitors to the Western Wall is to place a small written prayer into one of the cracks in the Wall. It is also where many new IDF conscripts pledge their allegiance to the army and to Israel.
The Western Wall's religious and historic importance to the Jewish people combined with its extreme proximity to Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount, primarily the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, has been the trigger for many outbreaks of violence since 1967.
The local planning and building committee is deferring to the district planning committee, which will debate the permit on Monday ■ Prayer site meant to resolve the problem of prayer freedom for non-Orthodox Jews
If Reform Jewish leaders were really honest with themselves, this is what they would say – acknowledging they’ve elevated their opposition to Orthodoxy far above grappling with the critical problems in their own house
Netanyahu and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz approved the work even though committee member David Azoulay has never seen a draft version of the decision
An organization known as the Joint Committee for Preserving the Holiness of the Kotel has brought out large numbers of worshippers to the prayer space, in order to claim the territory as their own
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'There is no other historical city in the world that allowed a cable car to be built within the visual core of its historical heritage,' said renowned architect Moshe Safdie
Still not recognized as Jewish by Israel, three dozen members of the Abayudaya community celebrate their Judaism at the Western Wall in a unique way
Netanyahu has been under pressure to compensate non-Orthodox Jewish groups after the government canceled a deal granting them greater rights
We don't want them in the army in order to share the burden, we want them in the army so they can waste three years of their lives as well
His time at the Agency will probably be remembered more for what he didn’t accomplish than what he did, at the Western Wall and on Israel’s conversion policy