The Western Wall

The Western Wall, to those of Jewish faith, is the holiest place on earth. As you can guess the western wall is a wall haha. This wall is the last standing wall of Herod's temple here in Jerusalem. Herod's Temple was the temple that was standing when Christ was here in the Holy Land. This temple was the last Jewish Temple. Because the temple is no longer standing and they do not know where the holy of Holies would have been, the Jewish people will not go up on the temple mount for fear that they will step in the Holy of Holies. 

This is the Dome of the Rock and where Herod's Temple would have been.

Because they will not go up onto the Temple mount and the Western Wall is the only wall left of Herod's Temple, it is considered the Holiest place on earth. On Friday I was able to have the chance to go to the Western Wall to bring in the Sabbath. Friday nights is the beginning of the Sabbath day and the Jewish people sure know how to bring in the Sabbath. 

 

Many many people show up for this celebration. More men where there then women and brother Jackson told us that was because many of the women have to stay home with their children. Even though not as many women showed up there were still A LOT! When at the Western Wall is considered an open Mosque so women and men are separated. While on the women's side it was amazing to me how many women where there praying. They were silently praying and singing and there was even a little bit of dancing. We tried to push up to the front to touch the wall but we felt disrespectful of those who were trying to pray so we decided we will go back another day. Another tradition that we will take part in another time is that of the prayers. At the Western wall it is a tradition to write a prayer on a slip of paper and put it in the wall. i am most definitely going to do that some other time and we are going to go back and get some pictures. Jews do not use technology on the Sabbath day, so out of respect we did not take cameras or anything. 

 

While we were standing outside the separation we got a chance to look in at the men's side. It was amazing!! There was a lot of dancing and singing and celebrating. There were also many different kinds of clothing. The type of traditional clothing that you wear depends on where your ancestors are from. It was really cool cause some people had the curls, somewhere wearing giant fuzzy hats and others where only wearing a kipa. It was really neat. We got to watch some of our JC guys dance and participate which looked like a ton of fun. I wish that the women's side had been as exciting but it was still pretty neat to see how the Jews bring in the Sabbath day. Being able to bring in the Sabbath with those who live here and Revere this sight as sacred was amazing. I cannot wait to get to add my prayer to the wall and go there when it is a lot less crowded.

 

Later that night was the first movie night that we have had and we got to watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I had never seen it before but it was really good. It was really fun too cause one of our professors told us all of these unusual facts about the movie...some that maybe i didn't really want to know! for example, the scene where Harrison Ford is fighting a bunch of guys in the city to get back Karen Allen and a fairly large guy in black comes out. Well they were supposed to fight but Ford was so tired, hot, and sick that he just took out his gun and shot him. That wasn't originally in the script but they left it. It was just stupid funny stuff that you watched for the entire time. It was pretty cool. Even though I could have watched it back in the states it was kind of cool to be close to the place where the movie was set! All in all in was a great Friday!!