The Western Wall
August 7, 2009 – Friday
“…The [Western] Wall was amazing!...Little pieces of paper (wishes and prayers) were rolled up and shoved into the over 2,000 year old original portion of the wall. One of my “madrichim,” Eli, was kind enough to walk me around and inside along the wall explaining to me the significance of it to many Jews. Inside along the wall is an “as-it-were” synagogue. Many rabbis with groups of 10 or more preach. Many others rock back and forth in standing prayer, facing diagonally to the left to where the Holy of Holies would have been (the place, as explained by Eli, is where once a year a high priest could enter). He showed me a foggy thick glass cover on the ground that I could hardly see through where a tunnel runs underneath. The excavated tunnel is where the original ground level was as well as an entrance. I had a very good discussion with Eli about Jewish beliefs and customs (i.e. differing beliefs of the future work in the rebuilt temple, who the Messiah(s) is (are), etc.)…” September 4, 2009 – Friday “…Tuesday went on an activity for the school to the Chain of Generations Center and the Western Wall Tunnels. The Chain of Generations (which is right next door) had some cool glass/light displays symbolic of Jewish history and its link throughout the generations since Adam to the present day. At the end was a cool little 3D show about it. It was all cool to look at…The tunnels were really neat. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide/archeologist who did a pretty good job giving us lots of understandable information in a short amount of time. I liked how she helped us visualize what the place was like in the different temple periods and understand where we were walking and what we were seeing. On the portion of the wall closest to the Holy of Holies area is a crack that makes a piece of the wall look just like the country of Israel. It was a cool experience overall to see so much ancient history and technology. I’m amazed at how they built such a huge rock solid wall with the skills they had acquired.” Random Videos of the Western WallThe Western Wall TunnelThe Chain of Generations Center |