THE WESTERN WALL OF JERUSALEM (ISRAEL)

The Western Wall, or Kotel or “Wailing Wall”, is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel, and it is the western support wall of the Temple Mount. The Wall is the most religious site in the world for the Jewish people. The name “Wailing Wall” is actually a translation of the Arabic term el-Mabka, which means “place of weeping,” and is the traditional Arab moniker for the wall. This description originated based on the Jewish practice of mourning the destruction of the Temple and praying for its rebuilding at the site of the Western Wall. The Western Wall was built by King Herod in the Hebrew year 3741 (20 B.C.E.), as the supporting western wall of the Second Holy Temple. As Israel’s monarch, King Herod was also one of the world’s greatest builders. He renovated the Temple on a magnificent scale, making Jerusalem his capital city. One of his primary motives in building the Temple was to appease his more pious subjects, whose sensibilities and morals he had frequently outraged. Our Sages tell us that one who has not seen this building has never seen a beautiful building in his life.